Rotten Apple
by Morphine Dementia
Summary: - INDEFINITE HIATUS I'M SO SORRY - After meeting each other in high school, both the oppressive stability of Ren's and the temporary calmness of already messed-up Horokeu's life shatters. Will the new bond help to overcome their troubled pasts? AU, RenHoro / HoroRen, maybe eventual yaoi, mentions of drugs, ...
1. A Fresh Start

**AN: **This is my first-ever AU fic, and like, a fourth fic in general. It has been gone on hiatus, and if you're only reading this now, this is a slightly newer, better, updated version. I'm trying to maintain the earlier style as much as I can, however some things might inevitably change.

**Summary/About: **Newcomers in school! This destroys both the stability of Tao Ren's world and the temporary calmness of already messed-up Usui Horokeu's life. Seemingly hating each other from the moment they met, they're about to discover that the lines between hatred and love can be really close sometimes... What will it bring for both of them? RenHoro, AU (hm, maybe not exactly- SK takes place in our world...ANYWAY, what I meant is no shamanism). Side pairings include JohanEliza, LiJun, HaoYohAnna love triangle (you'll see what comes from it), MariMati, ChocoPiri, RyuKanna and so on, but those are a subject to change upon my whim.

**Warnings:** language, drugs, violence, more drugs, yaoi that can be considerably explicit later on.

**Disclaimer: **Shaman King and it's characters (c) Hiroyuki Takei. Yes, I like to name my fics after good songs. xD This time, "Rotten Apple" together with the lyrics under the title belong to Alice In Chains. (You should hear the song! Beautiful.)

**Format:**

"..." -direct speech

'_italic font'_ - thoughts

_italic font_ - writing

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**About the settings: **

1. High schools are different everywhere so I'm writing all the rules and everything according to what I know. It might be different where you live. But this is a piece of fiction, so it doesn't have to follow reality completely. x)

2. Some of the characters' history and age is different from canon.

3. About Funbarigaoka. I only snatched the name for the school. The story actually takes place in a fictional city, a bit smaller and less crowded than Tokyo, and probably further to north. 'Cause I will need some snow later on. ...You know what, scratch that. The thing's taking place in America, because like hell so many different cultures can be in one place otherwise.

In this fic, Li Bailong is just a normal weird guy (maybe a Goth), Eliza is a sweet young woman who studies to become a nurse. She and Johan (yes, that's Faust's name) are already planning to get married after they finish school. Chocolove is a half-blooded gypsy with a weird sense of humour and he adores Jimi Hendrix, Hao is a sort of a "get-along-well-with-everyone" guy with ulterior motives - as he always speaks so politely. As for others, they're not originally zombies/ghosts/gangsters so it makes no surprise seeing them in school (their life details found in the story).

1st grade (about 16 years old) - Pirika, Tamao, Matilda, ...

2nd grade (~17'') - Horokeu, Yoh, Chocolove, Lyserg, Marion, Anna, ...

3rd grade (~18'') - Ren, Hao, Jeanne, Johan, Kanna, ...

4th grade (~19''; graduating class) - Eliza, Jun, Li, Ryu, ...

_Note: Even though both Ren and Horokeu started school at the same age, Ren is only 17,5 years old now (in the fic time) as his birthday is in the middle of the school year, Jan 1st. Horokeu is almost 18 (his birthday is earlier, Nov 27th) because he's repeating the 2nd grade. x)_

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_**ROTTEN APPLE**_

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_Innocence is over, ignorance is spoken_

_Confidence is broken, sustenance is stolen_

_Arrogance is potent_

_A romance is fallen, I repent tomorrow_

_I suspended my sorrow, recommend you borrow_

_What I see is unreal, I've written my own part_

_Eat of the apple so young, I'm crawling back to the start_

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**Chapter 1 : A Fresh Start**

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The morning sun was innocently shining through the window, casting bright shadows on the wooden floor. A blue-haired teenage boy was laying in the bed, a hand covering his eyes from the light. Silence, morning's silence. He didn't want to move, didn't want to get up, didn't want to go anywhere. The just-woken-up state of indifference was strangely soothing, and he didn't want it to break.

Tough luck, as a soft but strangely demanding tone interrupted the silence. "Horokeu, we're gonna be late to school!" It was his sister alright. He opened one eye, seeing that she was standing at his room's door, scowling at him as if trying to scare his sleepiness away. He sighed and closed his eyes again.

"Come on, Pirika.. Leave me alone. You can go if you want." he replied, his tone sounding almost whiny, as he turned to the side and pulled the blanket over his head.

His sister shook her head disapprovingly. "Horo, I know you didn't want to move here, but it's getting funny," she said. "Seriously. Since we got here, you've been sitting at home because of your broken leg, even though it already had mended three weeks ago. And you're still trying to skip class? Did you forget -"

"It's all very nice, important and peachy, alright, Pirika? Now I just want to sleep!" He was almost scared of his own voice; rough and angry, so not like him at all. He bit his lip lightly, wanting to apologize and feeling Pirika eye him with reproach, and was rather surprised when he heard her voice.

"Please, big brother.. Don't be like that. I know it's not the real you."

Why. Why she had to say it _this_ way. It made him feel even more guilty. To be honest, he wasn't that sure what was the real him - it wasn't him being cold, nor it was him being happy-go-stupid what he did to get along with people. Maybe it was something in between. He sighed. "Alright, okay, I'm coming," he mumbled and scratched his head in a characteristic manner before grinning up at the girl. "I hope you'll let me eat my breakfast?"

Pirika shook her head again, but this time she looked a bit more relieved.

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"Have you seen father lately?" he asked, with his mouth full of cereal. Now they were in the kitchen, and Horokeu was gurgling down his breakfast as fast as he could, because, after all, they were being late but he wasn't planning to start in a new school without getting some proper food.

Pirika sighed. "No. I haven't seen him for days," she muttered, frowning a little and looking at the table. "Like always, he appears for one day and leaves for ten. But at least he still pays the bills." If he hadn't, they would have had to leave the house, and Pirika didn't fear anything more than going to a children's home, even if she never said it. She wanted to stay here, with her brother, in this small house of theirs, even if it was considerably new home for them, it was still important to them.

"He does that only because of you," Horokeu said thoughtfully, looking to his plate. "He hates me."

"That's not true and you know it. Don't talk with your mouth full, Horokeu, it's disgusting!" Pirika looked at her older brother rather angrily, but the next moment her tone became a little softer, "Don't worry about it. It's not your fault that he's like that..." her voice trembled a bit and she silenced.

"Enough, Pirika." Horokeu put his arm around his sister's shoulder comfortingly. This wasn't a good topic for the start of a day. "You're right, we can't help it. Everything will be fine." He might have not believed it himself, but he had to say it. His frown turned somewhat determined as he added, "If anything happens, I'll take care of you."

The girl nodded, and finally a smile appeared on her face. "If you say so, big brother."

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When they finally got into the bus, Pirika's previous softness seemed to have gone down the drain.

"We're late and it's your fault!" she hissed. Horo just rolled his eyes, grinning amusingly with a hint of a sneer.

"Why, it really seems you started to care about this school. Don't worry, after all you managed to drag me out of the bed three hours earlier." He took his skateboard off his bag where it was strapped. He was wearing a white T-shirt and jeans, and since he never had time to brush his hair, it was standing up in spikes pointing in various directions, what made him look like a complete mess. Some other students chuckled behind his back but he didn't care. "Since you're so eager to go there... how many new boyf- I mean friends have you made during these three weeks?"

Pirika's eyes seemed to cast lightnings at him, and she tilted her head back proudly, her long hair falling behind her back. "Well if you must know, my classmates and the 2nd graders from class B are really friendly...And -"

"Whoa, I think someone's definitely got a boyfriend!"

"Shut up Horo! If you can't -" she suddenly blinked, "...why on earth are you dragging that board to school?"

The bus stopped at a crossroad, and Horokeu jumped out laughing. "For situations like this. If I'm already out of the house, I want to get some fresh air. See you at school, sis!"

He leaped onto his skateboard and was gone so quickly that Pirika didn't even manage to lecture him one more time.

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Horokeu didn't really know where the school was, so he stopped constantly to ask people where he can find Sun-Sunshine avenue, where he knew the Funbari High was located. He didn't really want any of the fresh air; he just wanted to be alone for a while. Again.

He stopped before the red light, took a white band out of his pocket and tied it around his head. He always wore headbands, he couldn't remember how he started doing it. '_Guess it's annoying when the hair gets into your eyes, and the band is good for keeping them up. You have to see as much around as you can when you're a snowboarder.' _Horokeu sighed. He loved snowboarding. It was so great when they still lived in the small town near the mountains, and now, in this big shiny city, all he had of use was that tiny thing with wheels. '_Could be worse, I guess.' _

The light turned to green and he moved. _'Not that I had a lot of friends in there, either. But it's all dad's fault. Still, I'd rather prefer getting back there than living here. Oh well.' _He knew it was impossible; they didn't have enough money to buy a new house. This city was where his mother's sister lived before moving in to help them, and when she died, she left her house to her only relatives. The papers were finally in order, they had to sell their apartment to make the house suitable for living - well, having a house officially sounds better, but it wasn't how it was. Father often caused trouble, and it looked like he changed jobs every week. Maybe he was doing it for them, but at the same time the children feared him to no end, and not without a reason.

Horokeu didn't remember his mother that well - she died when he and Pirika were little, though he did know she was of Ainu blood, just as his father - but he was sure that if she was still around, things could have been different.

Even in this shitty place.

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When Horokeu finally saw a "Funbari High School" sign over his head, the lessons have already started. '_Not a very good start, Horokeu.' _He sighed, imagining how he will be getting scolded, and walked inside, stopping by the board with the lesson schedule.

His class was supposedly the 2nd B, and the first lesson.. Biology class? In the first floor.. And it seems the biologist is his class teacher too. Well, couldn't be better. Hopefully, he or she won't make him introduce himself - or at least, won't ask questions.

Still standing on his skateboard, he looked at the room numbers in the hall, until he found the right one.

_'I fell a bit nervous,' _he thought. Well, time to get the play moving. Horokeu took a deep breath, knocked on the door and opened it.

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The Biology class and the 2nd B grade was lead by a mid-aged woman, named Kora Sati. This morning, she came in front of the class with some news.

Since everyone was still chatting loudly and not paying any attention to her, she coughed loudly in order to get the student's attention. "We were supposed to get a new student this year," she explained, "and it's already three weeks since the first semester began..I'm told he had some health problems, but he's going to show up this week."

The class buzzed loudly. "Whoa! A new guy!" a boy with headphones sitting at a desk at the end of the class seemed especially excited about the thought.

"Yes indeed. His name is Horokeu Usui, and he comes from quite a distance away.."

"Usui? Hey! Is he Pirika's brother?" This time it was a guy with curly hair. He blinked a bit surprised, but still looked rather interested. He was wearing a jeans jacket, and his skin was chocolate-toned.

"Pirika?" the headphones guy blinked and looked at the latter before realization dawned on his face and he smiled widely.

"Yeah, the new girl in 1st B! She's nice and she has blue hair, and she said she has a brother."

The teacher sighed. "Maybe. Yoh, Chocolove, please let me finish. Since it's Horokeu's first week in here, and...he had a bit of trouble in his previous school, I want you all to help him adjust here."

"Of course we will, Miss Kora!" Yoh said with a huge smile and swung back on his chair. "You don't have to tell us that.~ Um...what trouble in school exactly?"

"It's his second year in the 2nd grade. It's not much about it in his file, just that he failed the graduating exam."

"Whoooa", Yoh's eyes widened, "Those must be pretty hard exams then! I wonder if I should even try it!"

"I hope you're joking, Asakura," the teacher's eyes glinted a bit angrily. "All of my students are going to take the exams, and pass it with good marks...right?" she beamed a smile that seemed strangely creepy in this context at the class, and then continued in the previous serious tone, "You'd better not talk about it with him yet. Actually, I'm not quite sure what to expect.."

Suddenly, they heard a knock and the classroom door opened.

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Horokeu stormed into the classroom on his board, stopped right before the teacher, kicked his skate into the air and caught it. "Good morning!" he practically shouted out, looking way more excited than he actually was, and frowned a bit at the silence that met him. Surprised, he looked at the frozen faces of his classmates and teacher, then scratched his head with a nervous grin."Um...Sorry I'm late...I got..a little lost."

"Aha", the teacher finally got her voice back. "You must be Horokeu? Well, supposing that you're new here, I'd like to point out that we _don't _skate inside the school."

"Oh, I'm sorry..." Horo's grin widened. _'Great, now I do feel really stupid. At least she didn't make me introduce myself.'_ "You can call me Horohoro."

"Horohoro?"

"Yeah, well, everyone calls me that. It's my nickname." he said as if that explained everything, strapping his skateboard to his bag.

The teacher nodded in a very official manner. "I think I will call you by the name that is written in the class journal, Mr. Horokeu Usui. And _you_ can call _me_ Miss Sati," she said rather coldly. Apparently, the show didn't really impress her, rather the opposite. "Please, find yourself a seat. Tell the teachers that you've just came to Funbari High and they'll give you the books you need. I.. _hope_ you do well in our school."

Horokeu looked at her suspiciously as she said the last sentence. _'I know what she thinks. That I got kicked out of the school. But it wasn't my fault!'_ He went to the end of the classroom, pulled a chair from under the desk rather angrily and sat next to a guy with orange headphones.

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During the lunch break, Horokeu was sitting in the corner of the cafeteria, eating an apple and eyeing everyone suspiciously, when the guy with the headphones he sat next to - during the lessons that took place in their "home" classroom - came to sit with him.

"Hey! I'm Yoh Asakura," he said, taking Horo's hand and shaking it despite of the latter's utterly shocked look. "Horohoro, was it?"

"Yeaf", Horokeu replied, suddenly feeling a lot better. He swallowed the pieces of apple he had in his mouth. "Um..Hi there, Yoh."

"Man, you sure pulled an entrance there!" Yoh really seemed to be excited about it. What a nice guy. "The old Miss Kora nearly died of heart attack!"

Horokeu sweatdropped a little, it wasn't the most pleasant moment today. "I said I was sorry..."

"Are you kidding? It was awesome! Hey, do you have a sister by any chance?"

"Yeah, her name is Pirika. Why?"

But Yoh was already calling his classmates. "Hey, guys, come over here!"

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Soon, half of the 2nd B was sitting around Horohoro's table talking. Horo found out that the gypsy-looking guy was named Chocolove, the smartest guy in the class - Lyserg, they also told him that their classmate Anna was Yoh's childhood friend, then told everyone else's names, what he forgot the next minute.

They all seemed to know Pirika and her classmates. Horokeu found it strangely amusing. _'Heh heh...It seems there's a Miss Popular in the house.'_

"Well, you might say we're friendly gangs," Yoh laughed as Horo asked him about it. "Also with 4th A. As for other classes, I don't really know anyone else, well maybe some guys from 3rd A. They can be a bit unpleasant sometimes, but we get along quite well."

"Hey, Horohoro," Lyserg turned to him, "Why did you come to school only now? What happened to you?"

Horohoro frowned. Here they go, asking questions he didn't want to answer. Really, what business was it of theirs if he didn't go to school? He suddenly felt more distant from them all again, and decided to keep up the story that was told to the teachers. "Nothing really...broken leg. I had an accident while snowboarding."

Chocolove whistled. "You're snowboarding? _And_ you do all that cool stuff on a snowboard AND a skateboard too?"

"Yeah, I guess." Horokeu shrugged.

Yoh's and Chocolove's eyes widened with adoration. "WHOA! That is sooooo cool!" They started blabbing over each other again, and then they were suddenly interrupted.

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"You guys are too loud", a sinister voice spoke over the chat, and out of surprise everyone silenced. There were three older students were sitting at the table next to theirs. One of them was a long-haired brunette who seemed to be some sort of royalty ("His name is Hao", Yoh whispered to Horohoro), another was a pale blonde with a book, who looked much like a druggie. And the one who spoke had dark hair - at the back of his head it was standing up - and gold-colored eyes, that now were glaring at the under-graders' company. He appeared to be of Chinese descent. "Try to keep it down."

"Hey, that's _everyone's_ cafeteria," Horokeu looked at the guy with his eyebrows raised. Just who the hell was this? "If you're not happy, go to the library or something, instead of bossing others around." He didn't notice his classmates stare at him both with fear and even more adoration upon his words.

The raven-hair looked solely at him with an unreadable look. Normally undergraders knew better than to talk like this to him. "You're new, right? Well aren't you sure of yourself."

Yoh and the others looked surprised, not quite understanding what was going on.

"Here it goes again," the long-haired guy named Hao chuckled. "Why won't you leave him be, Ren."

The one called Ren didn't answer, he was still looking at the blue-hair. "You know, your face kind of reminds me of stupid people." Hao sweatdropped a bit, then rolled his eyes and turned away, apparently used to such scenes.

Horohoro, on the other hand, twitched and glared at the cocksure Chinese guy. "What's that supposed to mean?"

A tiny smirk curved Ren's pale lips, he seemed to be enjoying putting others down. "It means you're an idiot."

"What did you say?" Horokeu stood up, turning the chair over.

The Chinese didn't move one bit. "It seems you're not only stupid but deaf as 'd better watch that temper of yours."

Horo clenched his fists. This guy's calmness infuriated him even more. "Who do you think you are anyway? You wanna piece of me?"

"Bring it on, blockhead."

"That's it!" Horo stepped forward, planning to beat the guy to a pulp, but his classmates already held him, preventing him from going further forth. "Let me go!"

They didn't listen and kept holding his arms. "Come on, Horohoro! There's no need to fight. Step down." they were talking one over another, it looked like they almost regretted stopping him but it was needed.

"Yeah," Ren's blond classmate replied, "Let it go, Horohoro. It's just how he is."

"You wish! I said let go of me!"

Ren looked at Horokeu scornfully. "You really think you can take me? You? Don't make me laugh. You're not only as stupid as you look.." his eyes narrowed as they stared right at Horo's, "You're pathetic."

The blue-hair tried to escape his friends' hands. "Stop acting all great and mighty! You rotten jerk!"

Ren raised his eyebrow and smirked. "Whoa, touchy one, aren't you."

Horokeu gritted his teeth in anger, but stopped struggling. _'Calm down. He's just mocking you. Can't you see you're just entertaining him? That's right...calm down.' _He felt his classmate's grip on him easen, and he tugged himself out of it, turning around."Whatever."

Everyone seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, while Hao sighed. "Ren, was there a reason for all this?"

"I don't need reasons," Ren replied standing up. "I'm outta here."

Horohoro watched him walk out of the cafeteria. He seemed about the same height as Horo, even shorter - even though he was in an upper grade - and yet he was so self-confident that he almost made the skateboarder doubt his chances of winning a fight against him.

::

Hao shook his head a bit and smiled at the younger students, deciding to try saving what was left from conversation. "Ren's not always like that, I guess he's in a bad mood today," he explained.

"I kind of figured out that much." Horohoro's cheek twitched. He really doubted this was a mood thing, this was a definite attitude problem. "He's a friend of yours, right?"

"Well, we've studied together since mid school, so I guess you can say that.. Oh, I never introduced myself. I'm Hao. But you know my name, I saw Yoh pointing at me."

Yoh grinned. "Y'know, helping my pal to get to know people around." Hao nodded.

"And my name is Johan", the blond smiled faintly, finally putting away the book. "Nice to meet you, Horohoro."

Horokeu still was burning inside, but he forcefully smiled back to his new acquaintances and felt really relieved when the bell rang.

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Rest of the day went by without any more trouble, and when Horokeu got home, Pirika was already there. She seemed happy, what made her brother forget his anger. He always thought it was quite sad that a sixteen-year-old girl had to take care of the role of the woman in the house, preparing dinner, cleaning, organizing family events. He always helped her as much as he could with the housework, but he still thought she deserved a better childhood than this. It's been like that since their aunt died, so for about three years.

Actually, now, when father was rarely home, it was a lot easier. Horo remembered how father often invited really suspicious-looking persons to their home. Several times, there were even gangs here, and brother and sister would hide in the loft, trembling from fear and praying to all their countless gods to keep their little family safe. Now those times were behind them, but the feel of uncertainty haven't go away.

And still, Pirika never complained about anything and seemed to enjoy running the house. And she even spared time to have a social life. Horokeu was proud to have a sister like that.

"How was school?" she asked with a smile, giving him a plate of fried fish.

"Slightly better than horrible", Horokeu mumbled. "I'd rather find a job again." He sat at the table with his dinner and sighed. "Thanks."

Pirika chuckled a little. "Better than horrible? How so?"

"Well, my classmates seem okay, but I ran into this really _really_ arrogant upgrader who tried to start a fight in the cafeteria. He mocked the hell out of me and when I tried to smash him, I was stopped by the others."

"Horo.." Pirika sighed, "can't you stay out of trouble for at least one day? You're so childish." It didn't look like she was reproaching, though, and Horo felt grateful for that, because right now he really didn't need morals. "Who was it?"

"I dunno," Horo shrugged. "He's from 3rd A, has a weird haircut and a terrible attitude. I think one of his classmates called him Ren."

His sister turned to him surprised. "Ren? You don't mean Ren Tao, do you? You picked a fight with him?"

Horokeu rolled his eyes and sighed. What's with this shocked look, anyway? And why would she know him. "What about him?"

"Gosh, the whole school knows him!" Well, that answered one question. "His class is considered to be one of the best in school, and he's one of the best students in there."

"I wouldn't have guessed." His tone was quite bitter.

"All teachers like him. His family is what you can consider 'elite', his father has several companies, a lot of connections - not to mention a lot of everything."

"Come on, just a spoiled brat. I'd put him in his place."

"He's a top student by his own efforts, Horokeu. He probably didn't want people to think the same as you just did - no one knew all that about his family until last year, when someone recognized his dad in a meeting. And he's also a pro in various martial arts."

Horokeu blinked. _'Martial arts? No wonder he was so sure of himself.' _"Uh...Yeah. So maybe I wouldn't then." Well, that was 0:1 to the pricky guy's favour, but he wasn't going to give in that easily, he'd think of something to get back at the latter. "Still, what right...nevermind, let's just forget it, Pirika."

"Okay bro, but you'd better not call him out." Pirika smiled and sit next to him. "We'd better eat now, before it gets cold."

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In the evening, Horokeu looked through his homework, packed the books for tomorrow's lessons and went to bed. _'So far so good'_, he thought. _'At least they didn't ask me questions about last year. Maybe they don't even know..I wish that was true. I guess...this school..it isn't so bad, after all.'_

He layed thinking, trying not to recall past experiences. _'I let everyone down just a few months ago. I'd better not screw up again. Well, it wasn't my fault! It wasn't..'_

_"You're pathetic." _The image of the golden eyes' stare arose from some distant corner of his mind. _"You're not only as stupid as you look..you're pathetic."_

Horokeu opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling. He couldn't forget the look on that guy's face when he said it. It wasn't hatred. It looked somehow understanding. _'As if he looked to my soul and found what I've been denying. He said it as if he was sure of it. Ren Tao, eh? Who gave you the right to judge people? You know what..I hate you. I just don't understand -'_

_"It means you're an idiot."_

"You know nothing about me", Horokeu said aloud, turned on his side and fell asleep.

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**End Chapter**

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Yeah, there's no snowy mountains in this city, so I gave Horo a skateboard. I think it suits him as well.;)

Please read and review!


	2. Honest Jerk

**AN:** In this chapter, we get to see Ren from up close sooner than I originally planned...I just couldn't help it but add a part of both Horo's and Ren's morning routines for comparision!

Hope you like it!

Also, note: racists are idiotic, sick mofos and should go do themselves. Author highly dislikes them together with sexists, abusers and homophobes. Thank you.

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**Chapter 2 : Honest Jerk**

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Tuesday. Another Tuesday. Another boring, rotten, unimportant and blank Tuesday.

As usually, Ren woke up early, did some exercising and went to eat his breakfast. _'I hate Tuesdays,'_ he thought, opening a cartoon of milk. Actually, he hated every day of the week. He also hated himself for hating it without proper reason.

He walked through the hallway. A blue light on the phone was signaling a message. Ren didn't even stop; he walked past it as if he didn't see it, only the scowl on his face gave away his reaction. _'Stupid father. Responsibilities, huh? You don't have to remind me that every few days. You could show me your face instead. Thinking you can control me only with your orders and your puppets. I only want to spill it at your face - that I hate you, and all of your business.' _

He stepped into the shower and turned on the water. '_Maybe I should take it easier.. hmph. This kind of attitude won't get you anywhere. I was told so all my life. And it's true. People are so pathetic. Standing up for their honour, their ideals, that crumbles to dust the next day. It's so enjoyable to see them squirm, understanding how fragile they are. And they still think it's all so important. Like that moron I met yesterday..he got so upset.'_

A slight ironic smile curved Ren's lips.

_'..Was I too hard on him?.._

_Oh well. I fucking don't care.' _

_"Don't act all great and mighty! You rotten jerk!" _-blue-haired boy's voice rang in Ren's ears. He could remember his expression, filled with sincerity, surprise, anger and denial. Like Ren would have thwarted the most important thing he believed in or something.

_'Heh..seems I bit you where it hurts. I'm just being honest. So you're not happy with yourself, are you? Then you really are pathetic. No need to shout at me.'_

Ren sighed. No matter how he tried to make others feel horrible, it never actually made _him_ feel _better_. Ever.

_'Sometimes I think..Maybe I should stop it. Maybe I don't know another way to talk to them. Maybe.. people aren't so bad. But their trust in each other I can not understand. And the only thing that annoys me for real, not just because I want to think so... I truly hate what I don't understand.'_

Ren lowered his head and simply stood in the shower, letting the water run down his skin. It felt like a warm, heavy rain.

::

Horokeu always thought that getting up early is a total drag. Why does school have to start when it's the best time to sleep? Another mystery of the universe.

He decided he'd better be on time today - he was trying to do well this year, after all, - but he could never make himself be up at a certain time.

He fell off the bed when he heard the alarm, and hit his head on the shelf, what resulted in him sitting on the floor and cursing for a good fifteen minutes, until he understood he was already way off-schedule; then he quickly showered, dressed up, swallowed his breakfast and ran off to school. He still couldn't make himself take the bus.

"I'm gonna pass the exams this year", he hummed, skating past the alley, and dodged an open sewer. "I will so fucking pass them!"

This time Horokeu stopped in school's yard, strapped his board to his bag and went inside.

::

"What's the first lesson?" he asked, catching his breath, when he finally found Yoh and the gang. They gave him an odd look before answering, "Informatics. And you'll never guess who we're having it together with."

"You don't mean..." Horokeu raised his head and looked around. He only saw some guy from the parallel class A walking by and scowling at him; he couldn't recall if they've met before or not. No one from the 3rd A showed up yet.

As the teacher came to let them into the classroom, Horohoro saw Hao, Johan and some girl with dark-blue hair on the stairs; they've probably just showed up. Maybe that pricky Chinese decided to ditch classes?

Horo turned to Yoh, deciding to get his attention off the unpleasant business. "Hm, why do they label the classes into A's and B's anyway? I feel kind-of second-rated here."

"Apparently, it stands for 'assholes' and 'bitches'," he heard an answer from behind, and Ren walked past him into the class."You feel quite right though."

Horokeu nearly jumped. He was too surprised to answer - actually, he was never really good at making sharp answers. He only managed to hiss "You again?", but Ren was already at the other end of the classroom.

::

When everyone was in place, the teacher began to explain the task; all they had to do was to create a document according to the printed samples. While the whole 2nd B was relieved, Horokeu was the only one who haven't yet turn the computer on.

He would have never confessed, but he sat in front of a computer for about second time in his life, cause he didn't have such lessons in his previous school. After several failed attempts, Horo finally managed to turn it on. He and Pirika had a TV in their old home, but this was a bit different. He couldn't help but feel that he's embarrassing his tribe, even though he knew the reason for his family's lack of technology was due to their poor financial state.

"What now?" he cried, looking around. Luckily, Chocolove was sitting right next to him, and he sighed with relief. "Hey, Choco, what am I supposed to do with this thing? I mean.."

Chocolove looked at him surprised. After he finally realized what was happening, he started laughing. "I...I'm sorry...but this is really funny, man!" He finally brushed away his tears and came to help. "Here, you use the mouse to move the cursor...now let's open the text program..."

::

After several more minutes, Horokeu was on his own again, trying to type. It took quite a bit to find the right letter; he looked around and noticed that most of the students were already done with their task. He sighed. _'I can do it..How hard can it be? -- Hey, I think I'm getting the hang of--'_

"Sheesh, what cave did you crawl out from?" he heard Ren's scornful voice behind him again. "Is there electricity in your home?"

Horokeu snapped immediately. He turned around and yelled, "Would you just FUCK OFF?!"

Unfortunately for him, the teacher was just walking by his table, and grimaced displeasingly upon hearing the blatant display of foul language.

"Mr. Usui," he said, "I don't know what you're used to, but I won't tolerate such speech in my classroom. If I hear something like that again, you're having a trip to the principle."

Horo slumped on his desk. All he did was trying to defend his honour! "It was HIM!" he pointed to Ren. "He keeps insulting me!"

Ren kept silent but turned his head at the shouting boy with a smirk, and Horokeu could clearly read his lips saying "Drama queen."

"Come on! Why me? Why won't you say anything to him??" Horo was even more annoyed now, but apparently it didn't help. The teacher looked at Horokeu with cold glare.

"Am I understood, young man?"

He just sighed, rolling his eyes. "Yes sir."

::

"I can't believe this! I really, _really _can't believe this!!" Horohoro kept complaining during the break. "He started it! I only tried to defend myself! And that teacher's all like, _If I hear such words again..' " _- he mimicked in a falceto.

"I know, man," Chocolove sighed, "But we can't prove it. He heard you, not him; just forget it."

"Why am _I _always the one who has to forget it?" Horo frowned. He didn't believe that Ren guy had reached _anything_ 'on his own accord' anymore; everyone was displaying clear favoritism towards him.

The gypsy boy just shrugged.

::

During the lunch break, the company went outside to school's yard; the weather was still quite warm, especially today, and besides, Ren and his gang almost never hanged out there. Yoh suddenly remembered that he left his bag in the cafeteria where he had bought a rice cake, so he went back inside to get it, and Lyserg decided to keep him company. Horohoro and Chocolove sat down under a tree to wait for them.

And then some guy appeared in front of them with a really unpleasant expression, looking like he was looking for trouble. Horo remembered seeing him this morning.

"What do we have here," the guy said, "the nigger's got a new Ainu caveman friend. Who let you sit here? It's my place."

"I don't see your name written anywhere, Bazil," Chocolove raised an eyebrow, however his eyes suddenly went sharp and cold, unlike usually. It definitely wasn't the first time he ran into him.

Horokeu had to use all of his self-control not to attack the guy. What was it with everyone looking down on him? And for all the wrong reasons - he was _poor_, for fuck's sake. "Yes, I am indeed Ainu, and you're blocking my sun. Now be gone before I kick your ass."

Bazil looked down at him. He didn't show it, but he was actually a bit scared by that tone and self-assurance. "Don't adress me." He turned and walked away.

"I'm beginning to think it takes skills to survive in this school," Horo sighed. "You know that rat?"

"Not really", Chocolove shrugged, "I did give him a beating last year. A damn nazi. People are all different, I don't like him going around throwing insults."

"So you've beat someone up too, huh? After all that big talk about 'forgetting it'," Horo chuckled, and they both grinned, understanding just what was going on through their minds at the moment.

::

"Hey, guys!" they heard Yoh's voice. He was running towards them with a bag in his hand. "Guess what?..Someone put a note in my bag!"

Horohoro and Chocolove looked at him with surprised expressions.

"What kind of note?"

"Heh, I wouldn't be surprised if it says "Give me your lunch money"," Horokeu chuckled.

"Noooo!" Yoh grinned. "It says, _"You're a sunshine, will you brighten up my life?" _Ahh..and no name.."

"No name, no game," Choco replied. "A love note huh? I wonder who send it.."

"If it's from a girl, she must be the weirdest one ever," Horokeu shivered. It was...somewhat forceful, to say the least, though he couldn't tell what made that impression.

Yoh laughed. "If you've spend your childhood with Anna, you wouldn't say that!" he said proudly.

Lyserg tilted his head a bit. "Could it be from Anna, then?" he inquired with a smile.

Yoh blinked, flinching a little, and shivered. "No way," he stated bluntly. "She'd never call anyone a _'sunshine'_, and even less me." He sighed.

Horo looked at him a bit suspiciously, but didn't say anything.

::

The day passed quickly, and the last lesson of the day was about to start. Horokeu was standing in the hallway, searching for a pencil in his locker. When he raised his head, he saw four persons standing in front of him. One of them, without a doubt, was Bazil.

"Isn't this the little Ainu," he said. "I think it's time we had a talk." He was definitely feeling a lot more self-confident with three goons backing him up.

Horo slowly turned at him, his face blank. He was taller than all of those guys, but numbers were still an odd against him. "What do you want?"

Bazil smiled a bit too sweetly. "Why would I want something from _you_?"

"Then get out of my face."

"Look, the Ainu is so sure of himself. Didn't your mom teach you to lick people's shoes? I doubt anyone would pay her for whor--"

The next second, Bazil was on the floor holding his nose which was bleeding, and his three pals were holding infuriated blue-hair's arms.

"Say it! Say it, coward. And I swear I will beat the last living shit out of you!"

Bazil went closer, apparently feeling safe with his gang on the play. Half of his face was covered in blood. "Oh, you want me to repeat what I said?" he suddenly kicked Horo in the ribs. The blue-hair only coughed but didn't make a sound. "I said, that you're a stinking son of a bitch, and.."

The Ainu, unable to free himself, spat on Bazil's face, silencing him in the middle of the sentence.

"Very well", Bazil said, "Now you'll get it. Hold him."

He swung an punch at Horohoro, but instead of hitting him, he suddenly flied backwards and slammed into the lockers. Horokeu felt the other bullies letting go of him, that was so unexpected that he didn't even try to run after them. He stared the fist that was coming from behind his shoulder, that just punched Bazil in the face _again_, moving his eyes up to the person it belonged to, and he nearly sat from surprise when he saw Ren.

The golden eyes narrowed dangerously. "I believe you remember me from last year, Bazil. You useless dickhead."

The guy on the ground, with his gang scattered, now looked really scared and pathetic. He woke up, holding his face, that was even bloodier now. Uh-oh, they could so get in trouble for this. "You're that damned Chinese..I haven't said anything to you since then.."

"That's because you're afraid. Let's say I just don't like you and your jokes _in general_."

"You fucking--"

"I'll pretend I didn't hear it. I believe that you just forgot what happened here, and that you won't try playing this game again."

As Bazil walked away cursing and trying to stop the bleeding, Ren looked at him with a disgust. "If there's something I really can't stand, it must be insults based on idiotic intolerance for differences," he said.

::

Ren turned to go, when Horokeu finally grasped what was going on. "Hey you!" he shouted. No answer. "Ren Tao!"

Ren stopped and turned his head a bit. He raised his eyebrow.

"Ren Tao, you're a one big hypocrite!"

That blue-hair again. Isn't it enough that he just helped him? "Shut up. I don't care what you think. That is, if you ever think."

Horo scoffed and glared at the Chinese. "You act so honorable, yet you talk to me the same way as that guy!"

Ren huffed. "Your intellect and your origins are two completely different things," he explained tiredly, as if he was speaking to a six-years-old. "I heard your sister is one of the smartest girls in school, while you're an example of individual idiotism."

Horokeu blinked. "That's it? So you think it's alright, don't you? And you just keep calling me an idiot? And I have to deal with it?" he ran after Ren, grabbed his shoulder and turned him around. _'And...wait, don't tell me you've got an affair with my sister, because I'll KILL YOU,'_ he thought. Then again, Ren's point of view was definitely better than Bazil's - Horo had to admit he never bothered to make an impression of an intelligent person, and maybe he wasn't one after all.

..Trying to use force was definitely a bad thing to do.

Horokeu felt himself being pinned to the wall, unable to move at all. He now noticed that Ren indeed was shorter than himself, but he also had to agree on the Tao's superiority in physical strength. _'Darn it. I've never been defeated in one-on-one fight! And yet now he stopped me like it was nothing!'_

Ren glared at him. "You have to deal with who you are, idiot. I'm just telling facts. Prove me wrong, if you can."

"I didn't ask you to tell them. I don't have to prove anything!" He struggled.

Ren's golden eyes narrowed. "You're right, you don't. It's obvious. But you've got guts, I'll give you that." He released Horo's shirt and turned to go. "You know my name, it's only fair for you to tell me yours."

Horokeu looked at him suspiciously. It was weird. He'd just let him go like this. There had to be a trick.. but he answered anyway. "I'm Horohoro. And I'd appreciate it if you stopped pointing out my stupidity so often. I get it already." He only saw half of Ren's face, but he could have sworn he saw him smirk.

The Chinese just mumbled a "Hmph" and walked away.

::

"Pirika?"

"What, Horo?"

Horokeu was standing in the hallway, outside of Pirika's room. It was already quite late. He intended to ask his sister what she'd think if he ditched school. But then he understood what a selfish and cowardly act it would be. He couldn't do that to her. She wanted him to finish school, find a good job and be a good person. She didn't want him to turn out like their father. _'I'm sorry I even thought about this, Pirika.. I promise you I won't be like him.'_ So instead he asked, "Do you remember our mother?"

"A bit. She was always smiling and she was always nice to us..and she had blue hair like ours." Judging from Pirika's voice, she was a bit surprised by the question, but her tone softened as she spoke. It was a pleasant memory.

"You look a lot like her, you know."

He didn't hear an answer from Pirika's room, but he was sure she heard him.

"Pirika?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think he misses her?"

A few more seconds of silence followed, and then she answered, "I don't know, big brother."

Horo suddenly felt really sad, and he wished he was ten years younger, so that he could just curl up with his sister and cry, but he fought the impulse back. "Back then...he wasn't like that."

"I know."

Horokeu sighed. He didn't really want to think about that anymore. They'll talk more tomorrow. "Good night, sister."

"Night brother."

He went to his room and turned off the light.

::

* * *

::

**End Chapter**

::

The best use for filler characters - make them into random bad guys. x) Kick the Bazil! Woo! -- I wasn't trying to make it even harder for poor Horo, but terorizing in school is a very realistic problem, especially when you're different...and I think blue hair is kind of obvious. X-X Anyway, here's the Ren in the shining armor and with a foul mouth. xD (I really laughed at the manga panel around ch.8 where he's cursing Yoh.) xD

Also, the As and Bs thing is kinda funny, when you think about it...it makes Horo Ren's bitch! (shot) Well, it's true..kinda..

By the way, I really enjoy writing those little brother-sister talks between Horo and Pirika. Hope you like it too. We might learn more about their past soon.:)


	3. Too Many Last Straws

**AN: **So, they're already beginning to develop sympathy, I hope it doesn't seem 'random'. : D Since ICness is your friend when you write, I'll try to do that here too - despite the fact that I'm now more into -Man's Lavi and Kanda... good thing they're kinda similar, haha.

Also, yes, Ren hates everything he doesn't understand, he's close-minded like that. : D

( Ren: (pops up) _Who_ you calling close-minded??! ( ... ) WHAT?? I am _NOT_ jealous of people who have relationships!! ( ... ) Just go to hell. (breaks my table and leaves)

me: (sigh) Writing is really not that rewarding...I need some new furniture now. )

Also, for the records: Yoh and Hao probably aren't brothers in this fic, they're like...cousins, I think. I might twist it around for them to be brothers, but I'm not sure yet. Anyway, they don't know they're that closely related, or rather, Yoh doesn't know. Yet.

::

* * *

::

**Chapter 3 : Too Many Last Straws**

::

"Where did you get that bruise, brother?"

It was morning; Horokeu has just taken off his night-shirt and reached to close bathroom's door, but his sister's voice from the hallway stopped him. He followed Pirika's stare and noticed his right side where Bazil managed to hit him was now gaining an ugly dark violet color.

"That's nothing. I just --" He felt so guilty for making her concerned.

"Was it that Ren Tao? Maybe you should tell your --"

Horo suddenly frowned. "Talking about Ren...he has a surprisingly good opinion about you," he stated drearily. "Is he a friend of yours?"

"What?" Pirika blinked, then laughed. "Horo, you're stupid. No. I don't even know him that well, and I don't want to. What brought this out?"

"..Nothing." Horo breathed with relief, though he wasn't sure why. So Pirika indeed was popular in school...good for her. She deserved it.

Pirika's look turned serious again. "So? It was him?" she asked. "I'm telling the --"

Horohoro shook his head. "No, it wasn't him. Actually.." he swallowed. "If it wasn't _for_ him, it could have been a lot worse than this." It was true. Well, maybe he could have gotten out of the gang's hold, but not without taking some extra damage.

"Oh Horo, what are you getting into again?" Pirika covered her mouth.

"No, really, it's nothing, just a school fight. Forget it. Besides.. You already saw me _really_ beaten up, many times. I never thought you'd notice one little bruise."

"But it still hurts me to see it, brother." Pirika took her coat and turned back. "Please be careful."

She closed the door.

::

Yoh didn't know how did he ended up in school this early today. He was usually late, sometimes he'd even show up only in the second or third lesson. The teachers didn't really say anything to him for that, and in return he didn't break rules, so everyone was happy.

Maybe their forgiveness had something to do with the fact that the Asakura family was always respected in this city, and even though they weren't very rich, they had an influence on the local society.

However, while Yoh would often be treated like the other students, the school knew that Ren Tao could get away with practically anything. That was the difference that Hao told Yoh about. Yoh didn't really understand it, but he guessed that all the 'greatness' stuff was how Hao and Ren became friends, and that 'family honour' was the reason why Hao would like to hang out with someone like his not-really-popular relative.

He actually found it strange; it seemed that Hao liked him for no particular reason. They'd known each other for as long as he could remember, and they were of course related, but it was still a bit odd. Also, Hao seemed to fancy Anna as well, despite her having no family or 'eliteness', while lately she'd often appear interested in Yoh - Yoh didn't notice that though, and was often upset that she treated him badly despite of knowing him since forever. But Hao could see it, and he couldn't help but feel somewhat hurt.

::

Yoh arrived at his classroom's door - which was still locked - and tossed his bag on the floor.

_'Why am I thinking about all this? As if it's not enough trouble to wake up in time...gosh.'_

Since he was already here, he sat in the hallway on the floor - he never hesitated to do such things, - next to the classroom where the first lesson was supposed to occur, and put on his headphones. Yoh loved music. He liked several different styles, but his favorite was reggae of course. It was just so like him - calm, layed-back and easy-going. He was sitting on the floor, moving his head with the rhythm, and he didn't notice as someone appeared in front of him.

He only reacted when Hao lifted his headphones.

"Morning, Yoh", the older Asakura said with a smile. "What are you doing here this early?"

"Huh? Oh?" Yoh lifted his head. "Oh, hi there Hao!" He seemed to miss on the question entirely, but the other guy didn't seem to mind.

"I'm throwing a month-end party this Saturday," Hao leaned to look at Yoh's face, getting a bit closer than necessary, "Maybe you and your friends would be interested?"

A wide grin appeared on Yoh's face. "Well of course! I love parties! That's the best part of the schoolyear."

Hao smiled amusingly. "Great. I'll tell you the details on Friday then."

"Awesome!"

Hao sighed contentedly and then suddenly sat next to him. "If I'd go now, you'd be lonely. So, let's talk for a while. How you been lately?"

::

The first part of the day went by without any trouble, and Horokeu felt kind-of-relieved; he didn't think about yesterday and he didn't encounter Ren yet. Yeah, this day might be quite bearable.

During literature class, Horo spend most of the time dozing off together with Yoh in the end of the classroom. Chocolove sat next to them, sometimes turning back to point out something funny or just to chat; that was actually the main reason they liked to sit like this. Only Lyserg always sat at the front - but he was taking all the studies way too seriously, as the rest of the group decided - and apparently so did another guy named Manta who was now away for some study program, but Horo didn't know him yet.

Mrs. Oyamada's voice was even and boring as she read aloud to the class; it was probably some artistically valuable story, but no one seemed to listen. The sun was shining and half of the students were following the flies circling around the ceiling rather than the text.

Time passed slowly, and Yoh was probably already sleeping; he slumped onto his desk a while ago and was unusually quiet for the last ten minutes. In front of him, Chocolove was clearly listening to music as he was knocking some difficult rhythm on his desk with his fingers. Horokeu stared through the window, chewing a pencil mechanically.

_'The sky is so blue.. so clear...The streets are dry, it haven't rain for a while...it's the perfect weather for me to go skating.. Why is this lesson so boring.. I could do something better now....No, I will not skip class without a good reason anymore, I need to do well...Gosh, half of the class is sleeping.._

_The green leaves outside the window look so beautiful.._

_I wonder if that's because the rain washes the dust away. They should be all dirty now, there was no rain.._

_I still like winter better. I miss snow..._

_Sunny sunny day, leave me go away, give me ice and snow, I want the chilly glow_

_zzzzz '_

"...Mr. Usui,"

_'Hm?...what's with the noise? Go away..'_

"Mr. Usui, are you sleeping?" Someone's definitely calling him.

_'What? Oh...No, I'm not but I wish I was...Who's there?..'_

"HOROKEU USUI."

Horohoro jumped up. The teacher was pointing at him with a sinister expression on her face.

"Yes?" he said, feeling completely lost and gazing around for help. Unfortunately, everyone else was just as awake as he was.

"Answer the question, Horokeu." What question?

"Um...I, uh, misheard it...could you ask again?"

The teacher rolled her eyes and sighed. "I asked, can you tell from the chapter we just read, _why_ the author picked the title "To kill a Mockingbird" for this novel," the teacher repeated, looking over her glasses.

"Oh," Horohoro couldn't remember even hearing of a story like that from last year, nor what it's about. "So, is that bird dead already or not?"

::

"Cheer up man," Chocolove said as the bell rang and they walked out of the class. "You did as good as anyone would have."

Horokeu sighed. "This is not how I imagined my start at school, not at all." Well, the whole class had a nice laugh due to his answer, but he didn't really want to get popular through getting shitty grades all the time.

"Well if it wasn't your first literature lesson, she would have written you an F- into the journal," Yoh shrugged. "You got lucky..AND she didn't ask us afterwards, probably got scared of hearing some more vivid interpretations coming up." He snickered. "See, everything worked out nicely."

"Yeah, lucky". Horo smiled ironically. "If this goes on..."

"Come on, forget it," Chocolove cut him off, "You're only starting, you'll catch on soon enough." Those words made him feel a bit better and he smiled a bit.

Those guys were really great.

::

It was the lunch break, so Horokeu, Yoh, Chocolove and Lyserg sat at their favorite cafeteria corner. Horo tried to protest as he saw Ren and Hao sitting in the same spot as always - which was way too close for his taste; but finally gave up and went with the others.

Yoh still complained about the literature class, "I can't believe she gave us so much homework! And math is next!"

Horohoro slumped on the table. Of all subjects, he hated anything math-related the most. All of the numbers just seemed so unliving and confusing, he couldn't begin to grasp the meaning of it all no matter how hard he tried.

Lyserg looked at him with a smile. "I like algebra," he said. "It's all logical. It's like a case."

"You read too much detective novels, Lyserg," Chocolove sneered. "I'd bet you think that the answer to the problem has commited a crime."

"No, it's more like the problem's underwear," Lyserg beamed innocently.

Horo snorted and choked on orange juice. He started coughing and spilled the rest of his drink on the table, while Chocolove was laughing at both of them so hard that tears appeared in his eyes.

Yoh sighed, closed his eyes and started daydreaming, ignoring the noises beside him. "I can't wait for the weekend. When I can just relax.."

Horo started blowing his nose just to annoy Yoh, but it didn't seem to work.

"..and spend the whole morning laying in my bed and listening to Bob..."

"And getting high," Ren's voice interrupted them again. The Chinese was looking their way with a mocking smile. Hao seemed to send a glare Ren's way, but maybe it only looked that way. Ren clearly ignored it and looked over at Horokeu, eyeing the spilled juice. "Horohoro, your personal hygiene habits are truly disgusting. Learn to use a tissue sometime."

"How come you're always popping up in the worst time?" Horokeu growled, still coughing and not able to breathe normally.

Ren didn't seem to hear him.

::

The bell finally rang, and Hao came to their table before going to his lesson. "Yoh," he said, holding out a textbook, "You dropped this when you were sitting in the hallway this morning."

Yoh blinked. He didn't remember losing anything, and glanced at his bag - and indeed, a book was missing. Strange...ah well. "Thanks," he grinned, taking a book and stuffing it with the others.

"No problem." Hao nodded a goodbye and went after Ren.

"You two really seem to get along well," Horohoro hissed as Hao was gone from the sight, still eyeing the door. "Geez, what an annoying person. He just appears -- out of thin air, says something humiliating, and before you know, he's gone."

"You really care, don't you?" Yoh laughed, "You talk about it all the time."

Horo looked at him with a reproach. "Wouldn't you? You're the one that everyone seems to like."

"Not at all! Me and Hao go way back... We grew up together with Anna and Tamao, you know. We're kind of like real soul twins--"

"That's just wrong," Lyserg interrupted. "I examined that note you got, Yoh, and I'm quite sure that-- Well, I'll tell you later."

"Huh?" Yoh looked at him, as if going to ask something, but then the bell rang, getting everyone's thoughts off the young detective's discovery. "Ah, damn! It's already lesson! We'd better get going or Mr. Lawx will make us do sit-ups!"

::

Mr. Lawx was quite young, but the discipline in his class was one of the most anticipated in Funbari High. No one even _tried_ to cheat during his tests, despite of them often coming unexpectedly and without any kind of a warning during a previous lesson. And, unfortunately, it was just such a day.

"We'll be having a test today," he announced as everyone gathered in the classroom.

"A _test_?" Horokeu whispered, slamming his head to the desk. This couldn't be happening.

"Nothing difficult," the teacher noted, pushing his glasses up, "Basically revising of what we learnt last year. I'm sure you all are capable to do well on this."

"Yeah right." Horohoro was starting to panic. Maybe the reason he didn't ever do really good at maths was that he was afraid of the numbers - _and _tests. "Why this keep happening?" he hissed to his left, where Yoh was spacing out as usual.

Mr. Lawx apparently heard him. "Is there a problem, young man?"

"N-no no, not at all..." Horo replied. By now he knew better than to complain to teachers. _'YES THERE IS!! My math..sucks..'_

The teacher watched him with little interest, then looked at the journal. "Horokeu Usui, I presume?"

Horo nodded nervously.

"I see that mathematics isn't your strong point," Mr. Lawx noted casually. "I expect you to do your best."

"But, sir.. I _really_ don't remember what we're supposed to write now, because, um.. to me it was _two_ years ago..."

"That's just the bigger reason to learn it one time," the teacher replied coldly and handed him the paper.

::

Thirty-five minutes passed. Time's up.

It's already been ten minutes as Horokeu was just laying on his desk. He had written his name on the paper, and attempted to do two problems that he thought he remembered. And another ten...what good is torturing yourself if you can't work it out anyway.

Mr. Lawx went from student to student, gathering the test papers. He stopped by Horokeu's desk.

"Mr. Usui, you're not even trying," he said matter-of-factly, glaring at the Ainu before walking to the next student.

Horo just looked at him with a suffering expression on his face and didn't say anything.

::

Horokeu was relieved to find out the last class was sports, though he never cared much for sports at school. He was a gifted snowboarder, a quick-learning skater, and he loved sharpening his board skills in his free time. That's all.

"So that's it," Yoh said as they walked towards the gym, "Hao invites us to his party this weekend."

"Really? Great! We're so in!"

Yoh nodded excitedly and glanced at the Ainu who was silent for some reason. "Are you coming, Horo?"

At the very moment, Horokeu groaned as he saw a figure with standing-up dark hair tuft, apparently walking the same way as them. "Why? Why?.. What's wrong with this school? Whose idea is that class mixing?.."

"Um, Horo, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," he said in a tragic voice. "I don't think I'll be coming to that party."

"Come on, it will be fun!" Yoh grinned, patting Horohoro on the shoulder. "We have those every month to celebrate another four weeks survived at school. It's always --"

"I have to do my homework," Horo sighed. "Sorry. Maybe next time."

_'Besides, I'm definitely not going where I can bump into HIM again. Hell, I just want to spend that weekend home where it's safe!'_

::

"I hate basketball," Yoh said. He and Lyserg were already sitting on the bench to catch their breath. The coach have just made them run around non-stop for half an hour - and both of them weren't in a particularly good physical condition; they were both skinny, didn't really have muscles, plus Yoh was smoking and Lyserg was spending most of his time reading, so naturally neither of them looked too impressive in the gym.

"You hate all sports," Chocolove reminded, stopping by them and brushing sweat off his forehead. His grin looked quite tired, though he was far from looking as pathetic as his two friends - maybe he took some sports during free time.

"I don't blame him right now," Horohoro sighed, then chuckled. "..Would you look at that."

The friends turned to where he was pointing and saw shirtless Ren doing push-ups. He had a nice amount of muscle, but not too much - just the amount to make girls drooly and guys jealous - and he also had a tattoo on his back, a stylized lotus flower and dragon curled around a Tai-Chi symbol; apparently, all members of the Tao clan had that sign as the girl who was said to be his sister had a similar, just a lot smaller, mark on her shoulder.

"Whoa, he makes it look so easy," Yoh said, apparently missing the point that not everyone has forgotten the top half of their clothes.

In a few more moments Ren was done; it seemed that he haven't even broken a sweat. The coach marked his result in a notepad and waved for the 2-nd graders to come. "Your turn guys," he said.

Yoh almost started crying, while Lyserg hung his head in despair. Chocolove and Horokeu just sighed frustratedly.

::

"Yoh, you shouldn't smoke that much," Chocolove laughed as Yoh fell flat on his face after four push-ups. To him it was probably a lot, as the coach just sighed and marked it without asking to repeat it, but Choco still found the scene funny no matter how many times he saw it.

"Mmmmf," Yoh answered and closed his eyes, not raising himself from the floor anymore, and had to be lifted by Choco and Lyserg - who managed just as much as him.

Horokeu was doing quite well, but his right side was still in pain and his arms started trembling, so he decided it was enough and that he could take a break. As he sat with his legs crossed, he saw Ren again. He was carrying some box to the other end of the gym, apparently the teachers asked him to lend a hand. He spotted Horohoro sitting doing nothing and sneered.

"You're kind of girly, aren't you."

Horokeu frowned. Who who, but Ren should have known he has a sore arm. "I'm not and you know it, dammit!" he snarled. "Can't you stop insulting me?"

Ren gave him an ironic smile. "Last time you only didn't want me to remind you about your lack of brain."

Horohoro gritted his teeth but couldn't think of a suitable comeback. What have he done to bring this upon himself?..

::

After coming back after doing whatever he did, the Chinese headed towards the door. Horokeu, Yoh, Chocolove and Lyserg were now sitting on the floor, waiting for the whistle that would signal the end of the lesson. Naturally, they were all happy that the day in school was over.

"I'm waaaay too sexy for my shiiiirt!" Chocolove sang twirling his T-shirt around his head as Ren walked by. Yoh and Horokeu started guffawing, even Lyserg chuckled, but the Chinese didn't seem to care _or_ notice anything, it almost looked that he _floated_ on his self-confidence past the two convulsing figures that were now on the floor.

"Gosh, Choco," Horo said after another five minutes, wiping tears from his face as he got up, "You sure pulled a Ren there."

Yoh was still on the floor. "Aw, man," he screeched and rubbed his eyes with a sleeve. "At least this class had _one_ good moment today."

And that was probably true.

::

After the lesson, Horohoro stopped for several minutes to talk with the coach, hoping that Ren would have left by the time he went to the dressing room. When he finally walked in, everyone was already in the showers. The school's council was only _planning_ to make individual cabins, all that was done was several plywood screens, most of them were still packed and put by the wall.

"It's all right," Yoh grinned when he saw Horo's look, "Nothing we haven't seen, ya know? At least we have a separate shower from the witches..I mean, the girls."

"Yeah."

::

Shortly, Horokeu was finished; he turned off the water, put a towel on and reached for his clothes.

"You have a nice ass," he heard.

Horo froze for a second, blinking and trying to stomach the phrase that just hit his ears, then slowly turned to look behind him, only to see Ren Tao walking past the showers, still topless, with a towel hung over his shoulder.

Ainu's ears flashed red instantly. "WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU LOOKING, YOU PERVERTED CREEP??!" he shouted, without even thinking where he was.

Ren just smirked for himself and continued walking out of the dressing room, while about twenty curious looks turned at Horohoro, eyeing him questionably. Horo laughed nervously, waving one hand and scratching the back of his head with another, mentally nearly crying from embarrassment. "Uh..sorry..don't mind me..I just.."

"I'm not looking at you, Horo," Yoh said very loudly, covering his eyes, and turned away, trying to suppress chuckling."So don't yell at me, please?.." He suddenly started laughing aloud. "Come on dude, what's wrong with you?" Soon half of the boys were chuckling and covering their eyes.

Horo dressed up, gathered his things and stormed out of the dressing room in about three seconds.

"See you tomorrow, Horo!" Chocolove shouted after him.

Horohoro just lifted his hand waving goodbye and continued walking. _'Shit. That goddamned Tao! He doesn't know where to stop, does he?! This must have been the most humiliating moment of my life, and if I do say so myself.. Ren Tao, you have really crossed the line this time!!'_

::_  
_

* * *

::

**End Chapter**

::

Yeah, Ren, whatcha lookin' at? Even if it's only to make Horo mad...for now. Be careful with what you ask for from Ren, Horohoro...this time it wasn't about your stupidity...I know that was an old joke, but hell, works every time.:3 (I really seem to love that little Ren-stare-at-Horo's-butt thing from SK ch.65...well it was canon, how can I not include it? xDD ...again...and again...habits die hard I guess).

Yes, the Math teacher is actually Marco. xD I couldn't find his surname anywhere so I made it up from "X-Laws". Somehow I can picture him as a teacher type of guy.

I can't believe this, Choco's joke that actually made his friends laugh. xD And me too. Oh well, to be honest, I really like some of his jokes that were considered "horrible" in the anime or manga....Like the one about "Under where" - "Underwear" and "the Three Horses" and... (dodges a tomatoe) Okay okay, I'm going already.


	4. Solitude

**AN: **About the previous chapter, it wasn't exactly Horo making poetry, it was his mind randomly singing before hitting the Z's. : D

And wow, everyone liked Choko's joke...Way to go dude, you might actually do it one day! yay!

So now! Horo tries to jump on Ren...to hit him in the eye, of course...(lol gotcha, what were you thinking?..not yet)..

::

* * *

::

**Chapter 4 : Solitude**

::

It was a quiet Thursday morning. Pirika Usui was sitting in the kitchen, still eating breakfast, when she saw her brother coming downstairs, already all set to go. Pirika looked at him surprised - he never got up on time, even less early and _even_ less earlier than her - as he stopped by the mirror to tighten his headband.

Normally, Horokeu would still be in bed right now. Something was wrong. And the expression of bitter determination he was wearing sure wasn't helping it at all.

"Are you alright, brother?" Pirika asked in concerned voice. If something's happening, he could just -

"No," he replied and walked to the door, obviously forgetting about breakfast.

The girl blinked, then frowned. Something was up with Horo alright, and something that bothered him greatly since normally he'd deny being not alright as much as he could, and now he was just being.. sarcastic, one could say. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." He stopped for a moment, as if wanting to say something more, but then just sighed, opened the door widely and stepped outside. "I just have some.. matters to attend to. Take care, okay Pirika?"

"Horo, seriously, what's --"

_Slam. _

"-- wrong?..." She sighed.

He left.

Pirika sat still, looking at the door, until she noticed that she's already running late.

::

First part of the day was fine, no one seemed to remember the little incident from yesterday. Horohoro, however, did; he waited until the end of the lunch break plotting all kinds of revenge plans he could use in the future, then quietly sneaked away from his classmates.

The bell just rang and Horokeu now rushed through the hallways looking for a certain person. It didn't take too long until he finally saw him.

"Hey you! Ren Tao!"

Ren stopped in the middle of the now-empty hallway. His golden eyes glinted as he turned his head. Horokeu almost shivered. There was something about Ren's eyes that he found weird, not only the color. Somehow.. It seemed that if you look into his eyes, you'll be bind under his spell, forever, - or at least turn to stone. Horo couldn't shake the impression that Ren could see into his mind, while he simply stood there and looked at him.

::

"Well?" Ren asked sharply, "Did you want something or are you just going to stare at me?"

Horo shook his head lightly, snapped out of the strange half-hypnotized state, and resolutely stepped towards him. "I want you to apologize." His tone was low and even, and it stated that he was dead serious with this.

Ren's eyes narrowed, but he didn't seem phased at all. "You do, don't you. For what?"

"For making fun of me all the time."

"I'm not. Is that all?"

Was this for real? Now Horokeu snapped. "What do you mean? You most definitely are! You're not only mocking me, you're _humiliating_ me!"

"_You're_ humiliating yourself," Ren reminded generously, his expression still completely blank.

"WELL IT WAS _YOUR_ FAULT!!" Horo yelled at the person in front of him, suddenly infuriated. He was referring to what happened yesterday, of course, and that's why he was so irritated. But Ren either forgot it or didn't find it to be of any importance.

"_You're_ the one shouting and drawing attention to yourself. Not me. But I guess just _being_ you is humiliating."

He turned to go, but Horohoro blocked his way. "Why won't you stop it?" the Ainu asked, trying to keep his voice even. It was surprisingly hard, even though he wasn't shaking from anger as when confronting Bazil, something made him way more worked up than he should have been. "I'm so tired of you and your insults!"

Ren raised an eyebrow. "For the record, yesterday I _complimented_ you. And you're still not happy."

"Happy? What am I supposed to be happy about?" Horo fumed. "You call that faggotry a compliment?! You think you can just say all that and walk away?!!"

"In fact, I can." The Chinese smirked and started walking. Horo threw himself in his way again.

"Stop right there! I'm warning you!"

Ren glared at the Ainu, as if trying to judge whether or not he was really serious, then suddenly shoved him to the side with one arm and looked him in the eye. "You're such a loudmouth. Well, you can bark all you want, I don't care."

"You don't care? You jerk!" Horokeu gathered all of his strength and pushed the Tao away. Maybe because he didn't expect it, or maybe because he was lighter, Ren staggered back a few steps, giving the blue-hair time and space to charge. He blocked Horo's fist at the last second and looked at him, golden eyes glinting maliciously.

"Fluke doesn't happen twice," he said with a malevolent smile. "So you want to fight?"

Horokeu felt his blood coming to a boil. Even if he didn't really consider the Chinese his enemy - well, alright, since yesterday he did - this fight was meant to happen ever since their first meeting, and he sure as hell wasn't backing out now, because he just needed to smack this damned guy into his place. "I'll kick your butt right here and now!"

His next attack was stopped almost immediately as Ren grabbed both of his hands and smirked. "I don't think the butt kicking will happen. Or, at least, not the way you imagine it."

The next second, they were both on the floor, trying to punch each other in the face, but not one of them succeeding. Ren quickly found a way to lock Horo's arms, pushed him against the wall and sat on his legs, making it impossible for the Ainu to move.

"Had enough?" Ren's scornful smile was back in it's place. After all, he just won and he didn't even have to resort to his famous kung-fu.

"Let go of me," Horohoro panted.

"Why?" Ren tugged his cheek, obviously enjoying the look of pure hatred the blue-hair gave him.

"I said let me go!" Horo tried to struggle, but Ren had him quite successfully imobilized. For a few moments, there was a silence.

The Tao looked straight at Ainu's eyes, apparently thinking about something. When he finally spoke, his tone sounded more serious and silent than before. "You _knew_ you were weaker. Why did you try to fight me anyway?"

Horokeu desperately tried to free himself, but with no success. And the golden eyes staring at his heart didn't help it one bit; he realized that he had stopped trying to escape and mentally cursed. That damned Medusa look was sure getting to him. "None of your damn business!"

"Do you imagine it's about your honour, or about proving something? Or are you seeking attention?" Golden eyes narrowed. "I want to know it."

"Why would I want _your_ attention? I just want you to leave me alone!" Horohoro cried, once again desperately trying to escape the hold. "LET ME GO!"

::

"What's happening in here?" they heard the voice of Mr. Lawx and soon the teacher was standing next to them.

"Fighting is not allowed in school. Mr. Tao, I understand that you _think_ you are _above_ the school rules, but even you should mind it.. at least a bit. You should know I'm _not_ as _forgiving_ as everyone else." Ren glared at him, looking like he was going to punch him any moment now, but the teacher wasn't intimidated. "Must I remind that.." he paused and raised an eyebrow as he finally recognized the blue-hair who was still clenching Ren's shirt.

"If it isn't Mr. Usui! That explains it all then. Of all people, _you_ shouldn't be looking for more trouble, young man. Especially not after failing a 1st-grade revision test." Mr. Lawx especially accented that last sentence, and now _both_ of his students were glaring at him with murderous looks, apparently finally having found a common ground. "Did I mention that I give detention for getting F's in my class? Starting fights really doesn't help your situation."

Horokeu gasped in disbelief. The trouble always seems to find him, always. He tugged Ren's arm that was still pinning him to the wall. "What?"

Ren chuckled and let go of him, his anger apparently having faded out. "_You_ got an _F_ out of a _revision_ test?"

Mr. Lawx pushed his glasses up. "More of an H, too bad it doesn't fit in the scale. I'm keeping my eye on you, Mr. Usui. One more little prank and you'll be sorry you did it," he said and turned to go. "Now march to the class, both of you!"

Horokeu blinked, watching the teacher walk away, feeling his hatred for math and everything related growing by three hundred percent. He was ought to do better than that! And why is he always the one who gets scolded? He bit his lip and glared down, sighing frustratedly. "Darn."

Ren looked at him with quite an obvious pitying, but then suddenly started laughing. It wasn't normal laugh that Horo was used to; it was somewhat sinister and cold, without any sign of happiness, obviously not coming from the heart nor actual amusement.

The Ainu stared at the person standing in front of him feeling almost scared. This was.. creepy, to say the least. He slowly stood up. "What's so funny?"

"You are." Ren finally stopped snickering and started walking. As he was turning behind a corner he added, before disappearing, "You're so stupid that it should be a crime."

"I hate your guts, Ren Tao!" Horohoro yelled to the other end of the hallway, but didn't receive an answer.

::

"So, what do you think about your first week this far?" Pirika asked Horokeu as they sat at the dinner table that evening. She eyed him trying to notice something unusual.

"Tolerable, I guess," he sighed.

"Did you do what you had to in the morning?"

Horo choked on the bread and started coughing. "More or less," he finally panted, holding onto the edge of the table.

"Horo?" Pirika looked him in the eyes, and Horokeu squirmed. She knew he was lieing, and she demanded an answer.

"Okay, so I totally got my ass handed to me, but I'll definitely get another shot at him!"

Pirika sighed. That was so very like Horokeu, not giving up on the most hopeless things and overlooking the important ones, then again she loved that quirk of his at the same time. "Oh brother, you really are a walking trouble. I thought I asked you..."

"He started it. He always starts it. You know I can't just sit and let others mock me." His voice sounded almost like an apology.

"Horo." Much to Horohoro's surprise, Pirika stood up, walked to him and hugged him. "Don't do that again," she said sofly.

For a second, the image of their mother raised in Horo's mind. When he was little...mother never scolded him. When he did something bad, she would look at him seriously, give a pat on the head and say those exact words. _Don't do that again Horo. Okay?_

"Horo....are you alright?"

He shook his head and gently put his hand on Pirika's. "Sometimes you scare me," he said.

::

Friday went by quite normally. Ren apparently wasn't in school. During chemistry lab class Chocolove managed to set his desk on fire and tried to prove that he did it on purpose; however, the teacher obviously thought otherwise and didn't hesitate to cut his mark by half.

"Come on! It's called _stage effect!_ Real flames are the _thing_, man! I tell you!"

The last lesson was Arts; everyone was quite surprised when it turned out that Horokeu was quite good in painting graffitti style. Even the class number-one artist Marion said that "It's a good one." Even if it was only a painting, it made Horo feel somewhat better.

As usually, the students chatted during the art class; Yoh was already excited about the weekend.

"Awww, are you sure you can't go, Horo?" he sulked, accidentally splashing some green watercolor on Anna's hair.

"I already told you. That damned Lawx is giving me extra homework."

Yoh wailed. "But it's just homewooork! You can do it later...or not do it...or--"

"You're not running away from that Ren guy are you?" Choco turned at them curiously, "There are good people around here too. You know parties are part of school life, you really should.."

Horokeu slapped a palm across his forehead. "I'm not running away! Hell! Don't you think I'd rather be in that damned party than home screwing Math?!"

"Then why?"

Horo sighed. "I promised my sister I'll get a better mark on the next week's test," he mumbled and frowned. "I have to at least _try_."

"Well then it's obvious," Choco nodded, suddenly seeming very understanding. "She really cares about you, you know. If you promised, you can't turn her down."

Horokeu was already about to ask how he knew that, but the holy terror was coming their way in the shape of Anna with a green hairdo.

"Yoh Asakura, I am _going to kill _you!!"

"Why does she hate me," Yoh whispered tearfully before submitting to his violent fate.

::

Horokeu slept late the next morning. That's what weekends are for, or at least he thought so. Saturday was his favorite day of the week. No school, and nothing to worry about for tomorrow. He could sleep all day if he wanted - and no one would scold him for it. Really, Saturday was a great day.

He layed in the bed, staring at the ceiling, just enjoying the peace. Maybe he should put on some music - he had bought a CD player last summer when he had a part-time job. But if felt so good just laying doing nothing.

Horo turned his head and looked through the window; he could see the clear sky. The day was going to be beautiful. He looked outside with a smile and started humming.

_Thank you sun for the rain, thank you clouds for the sky_

_In your day I can feel the softness of night_

_I can see in the shadows, I can dance in the snow_

_Under the moonlight, in the white starshine glow_

"Good morning sun". That was a prayer song he wrote a long time ago; a daily thanking to the Ainu gods. It was probably inspired by his mother; she always said that everything people have comes from the nature and they should not forget to be thankful. Ever. People who'd forget to be humble in front of the nature, would lose their humanity sooner or later, and disappear within the mechanical hell.

Horokeu never told anyone he could write, and Pirika was the only one who knew about it. They even used to sing that little piece together on lonely evenings.

_Thank you for the tales in the whisper of trees_

_I'm a leaf in the wind, and a wave in the sea_

_I'm here on my knees to thank you as I pray_

_For letting me live in your world today._

Horokeu sighed, grinned for himself and sat up. The song and it's even, simple melody made him feel at ease for the moment, and he almost looked forward to the day. He stretched his arms, scratched his head and got out of the bed with a smile on his face. Weekend, finally.

Nothing could ruin his mood today. Nothing.

::

"You're going out?"

Horokeu couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. He thought he and Pirika would spend the weekend together. They could even rent a movie - they had some money saved from the week. Maybe she'd even help him with math. It's been a while since they had a normal family weekend. It used to be fun.

Horo never really liked being alone. Sometimes it wasn't too bad, but _now_ it was definitely_ not _that time.

Seriously, this party is in the worst time possible.

Pirika smiled a little apologetically. "I was invited, besides, Tammy and Matti are going too. It sounds like it'll be fun. You're not coming?"

"No."

"Is that because of --"

"NO!!" Horo answered before he understood that he spoke too soon. For some reason, Ren was popping into his mind way too often for his liking.

"..that extra homework?" Pirika looked at him surprised. He was sure jumpy today. "What's gotten into you?"

"I... thought you'll say something else."

"Like what?"

"Nevermind...and you were right, it's because of that."

Pirika still eyed him suspiciously. "You can do it tomorrow, you know."

Horo sighed. "Nevermind," he mumbled again. "Have fun." He turned around and went upstairs.

"Well if you're sure...See you tomorrow then, brother. Take care!" She felt a little guilty for leaving, but she had already agreed to. Maybe Horokeu just needed to be alone for a bit.

Horo heard the door slam shut. He took the math book and opened it.

He hated it already.

He sat down and started reading.

::

It was still early afternoon and people have already started gathering at Hao Asakura's house where the monthly party was supposed to take place. Hao was sitting at the veranda, meeting his friends and their friends, watching the cars of those who could already drive here, smiling amusingly all the time, looking both friendly and somehow above it all, as if he knew something that no one else did that let him be at such an ease and good mood.

He briefly wondered if Yoh will show up. He wasn't exactly sure why he was doing what he was doing with the guy - maybe it was a momentary impulse, maybe something else. But he wasn't going to stop. Since he started, he was going to carry the plan out, and no one could stop him.

_'He will he will he will come'_

Hao was sure he would, he had made sure of that. He had a very good reason for it, but there was something else. He wasn't sure why, but he always felt brighter when Yoh was around.

_'No wonder she's in love with him...he's cute. And that smile of his...'_

Yoh was the unique kind. More than anyone else, he knew how to enjoy life - even by simply walking in the park, or eating cake, or even sitting at school. He didn't really care about anything except his friends, and was always there to help when they needed him. Maybe that was exactly what attracted people to him.

Hao smiled to himself. This time the smile didn't look as calm and trustworthy though; it looked a bit more like a half-contented grimace, and anyone who knew him would have been surprised by seeing it.

"Hey Hao!" Yoh's happy voice interrupted his thoughts and the company went in.

"You're here," Hao's smile was back to being the happy above-everything-else expression, "and you're early again. What happened?"

"I'm not alone," Yoh explained. It's not like he did it because of Hao, even if the guy definitely seemed to think so.

The older Asakura's smile faltered for a moment, but was back in place the next. "I see. Well you're here and that's what matters. You guys want to help?"

Yoh's eyes sparkled. "Can I be in charge of music?"

"Of course."

Shortly, Hao showed them into the back yard where everyone else was gathering. "We'll be starting soon," he said.

The yard was decorated by lights and lamps, and what looked like confetti. There was a table, some chairs, and enough space to dance; the door to the house was widely opened and you could see the warm lights and the sound system in there. Yoh squeaked happily and ran into the house, with some other student's help lifting the speakers onto the open window frames, and soon the yard was flooded with relaxed but lively reggae rhythms.

"Cool! There are lights everywhere!" Choco looked around as he, Lyserg and the girls reached the inner yard. Yoh tumbled after them, looking completely happy, holding what looked like a blunt in his hand.

"It will be beautiful when it gets dark," Tamao said silently. She was very shy, but very good-hearted. Pirika nodded.

"Too bad that Horo didn't come," she said.

Choco patted her shoulder reassuringly. "Don't worry, he had his reasons. I'm sure he wants you to try having a good time." He liked this girl a lot, really, and he did want her to have a good time too.

"Yeah."

As everyone walked into different directions, Hao caught Yoh's hand and pulled him closer, making sure no one else would notice.

"I'll catch you later. I have a surprise for you," he whispered. Yoh stared at him questionably, then confusedly blew smoke at his face.

"Ah! Sorry," he cried. Hao coughed a bit but then just smiled, let go of him and walked to the front door.

::

A black new-model car stopped next to the other ones. Hao watched with the sweetest smile he could manage as a tall black-haired guy got out and opened the door for his girlfriend. She was really good looking; she had dark eyes, emerald-colored fancy-styled hair, slender but womanly figure, a pretty face and she was wearing a long dress with a dragon's image. The dress was cut in the side, in a way that her toned legs could be see at moments when she moved. It also uncovered one of her shoulders, and you could see a small tattoo that portrayed a lotus flower, a dragon and a Tai-Chi symbol. So the Taos are finally here.

Hao stepped forward. "Jun, Li, you're here." he said, giving them a friendly hug. No one else would have dared to approach Jun Tao like this, but he was Hao Asakura.

"Of course," Jun replied, "I said we'd help out with the preparations."

Li nodded slightly, he always let Jun to do the talking when she felt like it.

"That would be great," Hao reassured before looking behind the two rather curiously. "Didn't Ren come with you?"

Jun laughed. "He's here. He's just pissed that I didn't let _him_ drive. He'll come out of the car when he gets bored, and that won't be longer than five minutes." She looked quite amused by it; apparently she was quite used to her brother antics and didn't look at it too seriously.

"I see," Hao scratched his head. "I always forget his age. Still three months until he can get a license, eh?"

"Well, being in _our _family, he _could_ get it now. But_ I _want him to develop some respect for the law _and_ other people." Jun frowned a bit as she talked, though she looked quite determined, and then sighed. "He got really annoyed when I said I wouldn't help him with it."

"You think you can change him?" Hao asked carefully.

Jun looked at him and shook her head. "I'm not trying to change him, just to help him save himself. Lately...he's getting too much into father's philosophy. I have to right at least some of the wrongs that dad put upon us. I won't let him have Ren his way!" Her eyes glinted with anger, and for a moment you could actually see what kind of a powerful and strong-willed woman was hiding under the fragile, light-headedly fancy front. Li took her hand, trying to calm her down, and she exhaled, getting her calm tone back together with a sad smile. "He'll thank me later...maybe."

"Maybe," Hao chuckled, then his expression got more serious. "I'm sorry about that Jun, really I am. You're probably the most caring big sister imaginable. I'm sure Ren knows it, he just doesn't like to show his feelings."

"I know."

There was an awkward silence, and Hao decided to break it by clapping his hands together in an overly excited manner. "Soooo... now, would you mind helping me with the drinks here?"

::

_Tick tock._

Horokeu looked at the clock. It was almost 5 PM. The party is probably already starting. He sighed. He already did about the quarter of what he had to, not in the right way of course, and he still didn't understand a single thing. _'So if the first angle is x, then y equals...'_

_Tick tock._

The wooden floor silently creaked as Horo walked to the window. He couldn't bear to spend another minute looking at the numbers, his hatred for it growing even more now. Everyone was having a good time, except for him, the goddamned lone wolf. He looked through the window; the glass was clean, no doubt that Pirika washed it this week, and she didn't ask for his help. The sun was still up, but the street was almost empty.

_"Thank you sun for the rain..." _ he sang silently and suddenly felt really lonely.

The clouds were passing by quietly. Tree leaves slightly moved in the wind. He wanted to stand there, watching the peaceful afternoon forever.

He didn't want to go anywhere.

_Tick tock._

Alone.

Horokeu walked to the table and started reading again.

::

* * *

::

**End Chapter**

::

Wow, Horo is fascinated by Ren's eyes. *-* Well who isn't? Everyone loves the magical gaze of The Great Tao Ren. xD

See, Ren was only _complimenting_...in his own way...cough. He has a way with weird insults too. Anyone watched SK dub where he calls Horo a _snowbunny_? xD

And of course, Horo decides to spend the weekend home. But!.. We already know that his plan to learn math is going to fail miserably, don't we.


	5. Shadows

**AN:** First of all, if you haven't yet, you might want to check out my other RH stories. They might be on a slightly lower level since I wrote them ages ago, but they're still not bad, and the humor one is actually successful!

About Horohoro's father, since he's coming into scene: there was a "character file" on him in the manga. The font isn't very clear but I'm quite sure it says "Oyaji" - what supposedly means 'father', but I'm going to be a prick and use it for a name. I've seen some fics characterizing him wrong, as a bluehair - in canon, he is a big guy with black beard, so that's what I'm sticking with. Canon also supports the fact that he doesn't really care about Horo (since he left home, in the manga) or at least acts that way. What a horrible person. (I mean..it's HORO!! Is it possible not to love him?..T.T) And here in this fic it's gonna be only worse. And just you wait until Tao Yuan comes fully to the play.. But hey, I'm the author, I can make people hate the asshole SK dads! (cackles)

Also, the HaoYoh in this chapter is pretty harmless but it's not what it seems to be...and that's all you're going to know for now.

::

* * *

::

**Chapter 5 : Shadows**

::

Horokeu sighed and put the book away. The sun was going down, it threw mysterious red shadows on the floor, and if he wanted to keep reading he had to go turn the lights on. But he didn't really, and just stared at the warm-looking orange light. Pirika said he will not need to come take her home, so there really wasn't anything else to do.

But math was so boring.

So he got up and went down to the kitchen.

Why was the time passing by so slowly?

He was sitting there, munching a sandwich indifferently and staring at the floor, imagining flames dancing where the sun threw its last rays, when he heard the outdoor lock click.

The boy flinched and stared into the darkness surrounding the hallway. The kitchen was to the left from it, and he could clearly see a tall figure walking in and closing the door. Horo waited, expecting more people to show up. This time, however, it was only _him_.

"Dad?" Horokeu called, and only when he didn't hear a sound he understood that he had only moved his lips.

::

He watched his father going to the right into the living room. Father probably didn't even notice or hear him. That or he simply didn't care; most likely he simply didn't acknowledge his son's existing.

Horo sat still; it seemed it was forever until he finally dared to move. Maybe he can go upstairs and stay put in his room until father leaves again... Not a bad idea. The boy sneaked into the hallway and turned to the stairs.

Just a little further...

"Horokeu," a low voice came from the living room and Horo froze with his leg in the air.

_'Shit.'_

"Come here, pup."

Horohoro swallowed and slowly turned towards the living room, forcing himself to walk in the voice's direction and trying not to show his nervousness. He took a breath, making sure he'd be able to talk this time. "Yes, dad?"

::

Hao Asakura's house was where that weekend's party took place.

Inside, the music was still playing loud as the sun settled down; the guests who wanted something more peaceful gathered in the back yard.

Pirika and Tao Jun were assigned to light the torches that were placed everywhere around. The girls walked around with candles, and the small garden soon was enlightened by colorful lights glinting in the trees and on the fences, like in a fairy tale. Pirika and Jun talked a bit; they both made quite a good impression on each other. However, Pirika could feel that Jun was somewhat careful while talking to her, and it seemed that she also knew quite a lot about Horokeu, what was rather strange. She guessed it had something with 'elite' people being very careful about saying anything that could harm their reputation; then again she wasn't someone who'd sell out someone's secrets so that assumption hurt her a little bit. She tried not to pay attention to it.

Pirika lit a torch made from blue glass and looked around. Her gaze stopped by a boy who stood several meters away, resting against a veranda's column. His arms were crossed, his eyes half closed. His dark hair on the back of his head was standing straight up. The guy managed to look lonely in the middle of a crowd and seemed somewhat familiar.

Well, now it was as good time as any to get some things straight. "Hey," Pirika spoke as she walked towards him. "My name's Pirika. You're Ren, aren't you?"

No answer, not even a nod.

"Why are you standing here alone? Over there, they..." she stopped as Ren's eyes turned at her, for the moment bewitched by the golden glow, but it was sinister and cold despite the color, and she didn't like it.

"Screw off," he said in an annoyed tone, and his indifferent stare focused on the trees again.

Pirika scowled. Even if the guy didn't want any company, he didn't have to be that rude. "I was just being nice," she said coldly. "I see my brother was right about you. You _are_ impossible!" she turned around and walked off.

"Whatever," Ren mumbled to himself, still staring forth.

_'The right thing to do...for a Tao...why do I even think about this. It's still the same. Why.. can't I cange it?..'_

::

Pirika saw Jun walking towards the wooden table and taking a piece of cake. Her eyes were somewhat sad, but they also had inner warmth unlike Ren's. Pirika walked closer to her - they talked quite a lot this evening, after all, so it was only natural.

"Jun. That's your brother, right?" Pirika asked, gazing in Ren's direction as she figured pointing would have been rude. She didn't want to complain nor turn the guy in for his behavior, just to state her opinion, so she attempted to find suitable words for it. "He's not very.. _sociable_, you know."

Jun nodded, a light frown darkening her delicate features. "I'm sorry," she said. She knew what happened without the nice blue-haired girl saying, and felt the need to apologize for her brother's rudeness. "He's.. not really like that."

Pirika tilted her head a little. That was a rather strange thing to say, but she wasn't against finding out more. "What do you mean?"

The Tao girl shrugged. "Let me explain it this way... do you see that torch over there? What color is it?"

"Blue," Pirika answered a bit surprised. '_This girl is really strange_. _What does the torch have to do with anything?_'

"But really it's not. It's only an illusion. Can you tell me what color the fire inside is?"

"Yellow?"

"That's right. It's the glass around it that makes the light change color and look differently, even if it's still the same light. People are just like that; their appearances are shaped by their surroundings, values and rules they make up for themselves." Her voice was even, but her look somewhat distant, as if it was the first time she had realized that. Pirika shook her head.

"So you're saying your brother _wants _ to be a jerk?"

Jun laughed silently, and then sighed. "It's more complicated than that," she muttered before once again realizing that she had only met this girl today and she was nearly spilling her heart contents to her now. Maybe because she also had a brother she loved, maybe that made them similar in a way, despite of coming from two completely different backgrounds. "..I'd rather not talk about it."

Pirika nodded understandingly. "Of course. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked."

"Nevermind, it's fine," The Tao girl smiled lightly. It looked like she really wanted to change the topic. "So, what do you think about the decorations?"

::

Hao walked around, making sure that no one was left out and looking for Yoh; he stopped by Ren and looked at him curiously.

"You look even more pissed than usual," he said. "That's not good for you."

Ren just sneered. "Why would _you_ care?"

"No reason," Hao chuckled. "I'm yours and Jun's friend, that's all."

"How nice of you."

Hao didn't really like this attitude either, despite of being more or less used to it. It was a lot more useful when he was on the Taos' good side and he had no intention to change that, and if something was up he was more than willing to help. "Come on Ren, what's gotten into you?"

"Nothing." Ren's scowl suddenly faded and he sighed. "You know, I came here only because I wanted to distract myself, and it's not working." In fact, this environment was only making him feel worse, but he wasn't going to dwell any further into that. Hao rolled his eyes.

"Well maybe because you're standing here all alone. You can't hide from your thoughts that way."

"I don't need to hide from anything!" The Chinese answered a bit too quickly for it to sound persuading.

The Asakura looked at him amused. "But it looks otherwise, you know. I heard you got into a fight few days ago, is that what you're thinking about?"

Ren scowled again and glared Hao. "No."

"Then?"

"Forget it."

"You know, you could talk to me if you want. You never really say much about yourself.."

"This conversation is over," Ren glared at him annoyed and turned away.

"Maybe I can help -"

"I said _over _!"

Hao shrugged. "Suit yourself," he said and walked away. When Ren was like that, the best thing to do was to leave him alone. He had known Ren and Jun for more than five years, yet he never really got close to Ren as he never spoke anything about his feelings or dreams. Sometimes it seemed that such things didn't even exist for him. Jun didn't agree, but that was natural - she knew more about it.

Ren continued staring at the ground; the blue shadows cast by the torch Pirika lit minutes ago were dancing like the flame that created them. Just like smoke....like a human life, being controlled by the wind named fate.

::

Horohoro looked at the dark silhouette of his father.

"Turn the light on and come here," father said and waved his hand impatiently. "Where is Pirika?"

Horo did what he was told and sat at the other end of the couch. He hated the fact that his hands seemed to be trembling. He was supposed to be calm, dammit. "She's...she's out with our friends."

"Ah good. And you are here because?"

"School. I had to stay home." It sounded rather pathetic now. He knew father wouldn't take it for truth - then again, it was his own business whether he stayed home or not, right?

Father sneered. "It's funny to see you care about school, Horokeu."

Horo squirmed. It wasn't that he really didn't care about it. He wasn't himself back then. Now he knew - or rather, Pirika convinced him - that he had to think about his future, and school was inevitable in that. "I..I thought I should."

"I see."

More than anything, Horohoro now wanted to be somewhere else. "Yeah well, I'm doing quite well," he said uncomfortably and stood up. He wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. Unfortunately, this time his father apparently felt it and turned his head towards his son with a light examining frown.

"Horokeu, are you afraid of me?"

For the second time that evening, Horo felt his heart stopping. "N-no, of course not, dad," he answered, but it didn't sound very persuasive. Again. Why couldn't he be a smooth liar anyway? But at least he tried.

"Good," father said, turning away from him. He couldn't tell whether he had bought it or just decided to leave the matter be. "By the way, I might need your help in the business again."

"Wha-- what?!"

"Is there a problem Horokeu?" Of course there was a problem! Horohoro still had nightmares about the last time dad needed "help". Unfortunately, it was dangerous, and especially for him. He even ended up in a hospital - and that says a lot; since normally, no matter how sick or beaten up he was, he always just stayed home.

This better wouldn't be the case again. "I...I don't.."

"I'll turn up when I know more." Father stood up and went to the door. "And you'd better not try anything funny. You know what would happen if you told anyone."

Horo slumped right there on the floor as he heard the door slam shut. He sat there trying to calm himself; when he finally gathered himself enough to get up and went upstairs, it was already dark.

::

It was already dark when Hao caught a glimpse of Yoh and turned his way. "Hey Yoh," he said.

"That sounds kinda funny don't you think?" the younger Asakura turned to Hao with a smile. "You could as well say "Yo, Yoh" or "Hey yo" or "Yo hey" or --"

Hao chuckled. Yoh indeed was the unique kind. "Would you take a walk with me?" he asked, interrupting the any further ideas in the other teen's head before it could float out as a load of words.

Yoh put down several CDs he held and shrugged. "Sure, why not."

::

The two Asakura scions were walking down the dark street, away from the noise and lights.

Hao was thinking of the best way to start the conversation; he didn't want to go straight to his point which he decided to 'reveal' today. No, Anna wasn't playing any part in it; he had it planned perfectly and he knew he knew what he was doing.

Yoh looked around and broke the silence. "Did you ever notice that stars are brighter outside the town?"

"I did," Hao nodded. "People shouldn't be afraid to get close to the nature, don't you think? The sky is beautiful in the countryside, but I like it in here as well. After all, this town holds many good childhood memories."

"Yeah, if you consider Anna a good memory," Yoh sulked. Hao narrowed his eyes lightly. Yoh was always talking about her, and he was jealous. "I'm still afraid of her since those times."

"She used to steal your candy, no?" Hao laughed, maintaining his light-hearted appearance.

"The worst part, she didn't eat it herself either! She kept saying that she was doing me a favor. She even made me do exercises!"

"Is that why you hate sports that much?"

"I guess," Yoh sighed. "Every time I hear a whistle, I wait for Anna to come from behind a corner and hit me!"

Hao didn't like it one bit. Good thing no one knew what Anna felt towards anyone, and theoretically Hao was sure he's seen as a lot more plausible interest than Yoh. At the same time, he himself found Yoh quite entertaining and even cute, and he wasn't going to let him to make Anna fall for him, ever. They were fated to each other, and that's how it was going to go. Yoh didn't notice the thoughtful expression appear on the face of whom he knew was his distant relative, and kept complaining.

They stopped on a bridge and looked down into the dark water. The moon's image in it was being shaken by the running stream. The two Asakuras now talked about their childhood spent in this neighbourhood, about the river and how they used to search for treasures around it on hot summer days.

Hao turned to Yoh once again. "You know, you always were a cute kid, Yoh."

The cute kid shrugged indifferently. "Hm, my mom says that too."

"I can't believe you're still wearing the same headphones. You know, you haven't changed a lot since then."

"Huh?"

"Well, except for some habits of yours.." Hao muttered, softly taking the blunt out of Yoh's hand. "That's enough for today."

"Oh good, I could have sworn you were calling me cute just a second ago."

"That's right, I was."

Yoh's eyebrows shot so high it nearly hid under his hair. Really, was there something he didn't know about Hao?.. "You wanna tell me something?"

Hao smiled at him and looked down to the water, not saying anything. They stood there for several minutes, until the night's cold finally reached them. "Let's head back."

"Yeah," Yoh agreed, though he still looked somewhat troubled by what he just heard.

::

They stopped near Hao's house. They could hear the party music and see the lights. Hao leaned towards Yoh. It was time.

"I want you to be mine," he whispered. "I'm not asking, I know it. From the moment I saw you I knew we're two parts of the same."

"Uh.. Hao?.."

"Yoh...come with me. Our destinies are bound together."

Hao's hands now were resting on Yoh's shoulders as he looked into the younger boy's eyes, then he slowly pulled him closer. Yoh didn't resist, but he tilted his head to the side, staring at Hao's face. "You're kinda weird you know? Are you trying to say that you want -"

"To be as one," Hao said and suddenly pressed his lips to Yoh's.

Yoh's eyes widened in surprise as he felt the other's warm tongue entering his mouth. It was so unexpected that he didn't manage to react nor stop it. Hell this was quite far from what he had meant by calling Hao his 'soul twin', this was...really weird and he wasn't sure if he liked it. At the same time, he didn't feel as disgusted as he thought he would be, and seemed to like a part of this. His headphones slipped onto his neck as Hao ran his fingers through his hair.

Well, he had no chance with Anna, did he? And this felt quite good at the moment. It had to be his first experience, actually - well, other than that child kiss with Anna. Maybe he should just go with the flow and see what comes from it. Hao smiled slightly as he felt Yoh relaxing in his arms and deepened the kiss; he finally felt Yoh kissing back hesitantly and answered even more passionately.

They were so caught in the moment that they didn't even notice as people started showing up in front of Hao's house - or rather, Yoh didn't notice as he was preoccupied by the weird new experience and tormenting thoughts just what the hell he was doing. Hao actually noticed a couple of the party visitors, and only smiled contentedly. When the two finally broke the kiss to gasp for breath, they both saw the curious looks of Jun and Johan.

Yoh felt his ears turning red. He wasn't quite as sure whether what he just did meant anything or not as to want random people to see it. "Hi there," he said, scratching the back of his head. "Have you guys been here for long?"

"Don't ask him," Johan laughed, nodding at Hao, who frowned a bit as apparently the blond had noticed him being more aware than he wanted everyone to believe.

Jun just raised her eyebrow. "Whoa, I never would have guessed," she replied, her tone a bit cold but not angry, "but you two kinda look cute together."

The Faust and the Tao chuckled a bit and turned away. "You can continue, don't mind us."

"It's almost time for the fireworks," Hao said, taking Yoh's hand with a completely innocent expression on his face. "Let's go."

::

Everyone gathered in the front yard. Chocolove, Johan, Matilda and a tall blue-haired girl named Kanna were setting up fireworks; there was a whole box dragged out.

"Hao's a bit of a pyromaniac," Johan laughed, measuring the quantity of the rainbow-colored sticks with his eyes. He got up and stepped back as a young woman with long, yellow hair pulled him back a bit with a smile, whispering what had to be "be careful, dear".

"Maybe, but _this_, dear Johan, is art," Hao replied, searching for his lighter. "And of course, I'm lighting the first one as usual."

"Me and Matti will manage the rest," Kanna took a cigarette out of her mouth and threw it into a can with water. "Give me some space kiddies, or you're gonna get your arses burned."

After several minutes, everything was set, and the show began.

"Don't you just love fireworks?" Hao said, resting his arm around Yoh's shoulders and looking up to the sky where the fire danced throwing rain of colors upon the neighborhood.

"They're beautiful," Yoh said carefully. What just happened...he didn't know what it was and he didn't want to think about it. He'd just let it go in whatever way it was going to.

"Yeah."

::

When Matilda's dad's car stopped by the Usuis' house, there was no light in any of the windows. Pirika probably looked rather concerned, as the other girls quickly started reassuring her everything was alright.

"Your brother is probably sleeping," Matti said as she looked at her watch, "I never thought it was this late!"

"W-wow, it's probably Sunday already.." Tamao looked a bit troubled, but managed a smile as Pirika seemed relieved. Matti grinned.

"Until tomorrow, Pirika!"

"Yeah. See you Matti, Tammy!" Pirika smiled and got out of the car. "Thank you Mr. Matisse."

"Your welcome," Matti's dad nodded and they drove away, leaving Pirika in the dark.

She walked towards the house, unlocked the door and silently went inside.

::

Pirika got upstairs on her toes and walked towards her room. Suddenly she saw a night lamp's light coming out of her brother's room. The doors were slightly opened. She stood there for a while, then shifted her head in. "Horo?"

Horohoro was sitting in his bed, curled to a little ball. His face was buried in his knees.

Pirika walked to him quietly and touched his shoulder. "Brother? What's wrong?"

He raised his head and looked at her. His eyes were dry, but somewhat empty. "Nothing," he mumbled. "Nevermind. I just...had a bad dream again." Pirika frowned. Bad dreams alone rarely did this to him; he was quite strong, both mentally and physically, and she was worried. Then she understood.

"Did father come by earlier?"

Nod.

Pirika's eyes widened, and she stroked her brother's hair softly. "Did he...are you alright?" Her voice trembled a bit. Horokeu managed a weak smile. He didn't want her to worry so much over him.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he answered quietly. "Go to sleep."

::

* * *

::

**End Chapter**

::

Yep, Ren seems quite messed up... As for what exactly happened to Horohoro last year.. Oh there will be some drama in this fic.

Also, I just realized that "rainbow-colored sticks" sound kinda wrong. XD


	6. Honour

**AN: **It's time to break the ice, ladies and gentlemen! Hope it's not too soon and stays persuasive...

There's also something about Ren's childhood. Let's see the reasons of his attitude.

Anyway, HERE WE GO!!! (tries to leave the stage in a dramatic manner but accidentally trips and falls on the audience) Hehe....sorry 'bout that. xD

::

* * *

::

**Chapter 6 : Honour**

::

It was Sunday afternoon, and Ren Tao was sitting in the kitchen of an empty house.

He sighed, staring at the same spot on the wall.

_'It's always the same, over and over again.'_

He shook his head, biting back the inevitable "why" that was about to arise in his mind. He had that question for too long now, and it didn't bother him anymore.

_'Nothing can help it.'_

Ren only got up a while ago, as he stayed at Hao's until very late, when everyone else had left. He even helped him to clean the house, even though Hao's parents were quite nice and they probably wouldn't have said anything to their son about leaving the mess for one more day. But Ren wanted, no,- needed an excuse to stay. He hated even the thought of getting back into the oppressive atmosphere of his own house.

Here he was now. Ren stood up silently and went to the hallway to pick up and throw out the sliver of a vase that he had broken that morning. He always hated it and it was actually strange that the ugly decoration survived this long. Well, it didn't matter anymore.

::

Ren had lived here for about ten years, mostly alone, as his father thought that it would be good for his character. Maybe that was true, in a way. Maybe not.

Looking back now, it was all very simple - Ren's dad bought a house and told his then 6-year-old son that it was time to learn to live on his own. And that was it. At the same time, Ren was assigned with a personal assistant named Masun. Back in the day, he looked after Ren, and also taught him various martial arts. Nowadays, he usually only turned up on Fridays, to help Ren with the Tao company business that he was already unofficially given part of. He hated it with all his heart.

::

The Tao scion walked upstairs and headed to his room. He usually didn't pay much attention, but today, every little thing seemed to remind him of the time when he had just moved here. Those were dark times.

The dark, empty, creaking house was something that would give any child nightmares, even if they didn't live there alone. When Ren was little, he was actually afraid of the dark. He would curl in his bed with a plush tiger and try to fall asleep as fast as he could, knowing that everything would be alright in the morning. Ren was so thankful to Jun when she agreed to stay with him during nights for the first few weeks - of course, father knew nothing about it. But after that, he was left alone. Again.

::

Ren layed on his bed, recalling the feeling of fear and desperation that haunted him for several months after the sun would settle down. Now he found it pathetic. He turned on his side and moved his unfocused gaze towards a shelf above the bed. He suddenly reached up to it; he wasn't sure why he did it but as he moved his arm back, his eyes widened slightly with surprise as he was holding a white toy tiger. Ren wiped off the dust and looked at it. A sudden feeling of loneliness took over him, and he noticed it for the first time in several years.

"I thought I got rid of you," he said silently.

The tiger, named Mr. Snowy, was Jun's present for his third birthday. Ren didn't know where she got the money or how she managed to get it without anyone noticing. Even though the Tao family had more money that they knew what to do with, the plush tiger was Ren's only toy as his father didn't approve of such things. He would have said that only weak-minded people can cling to a rag doll, so Ren kept it secret. Quite often the toy was the only companion that the Tao kid had since then.

Even though Ren got used to being alone after a time, the plush was still in his room, reminding him of the old times. When he got older, he wanted to give it away, considering it was "inappropriate" for a boy his age to have toys in his bedroom, but he couldn't find it in him to throw sister's gift out. So it stayed there.

"How stupid." Ren looked at the tiger, remembering Jun's smiling face as she handed it to him. He sighed and carefully put it back up.

::

Still, living alone did have its advantages. Ren didn't need to answer to anyone when he'd be back or how he kept his things. However, father always kept in contact with him through messages, videos and every other way except for actually meeting him.

That was another thing that Ren hated. It was about two years since he actually saw Tao Yuan's face, and yet the last time Ren received his _orders_ was two days ago.

Ren thought that was low, but he couldn't do anything about it.

From what he heard, his old man was traveling between China and Japan, as well as other countries, but he also often stopped in the huge Tao mansion in this town. Nevertheless, the last time Yuan actually _announced_ his arrival, Ren simply didn't come; he already had had enough of him.

And yet Ren still followed most of his father's philosophy and rules - unconsciously, having them forced into him since before he could walk.

_You must never rely on other people._

And there it all started: rules, interpretations of them and the attempts to break away from all of it.

Tao Ren never trusts others.

Tao Ren never says "sorry".

Tao Ren never shows his feelings.

Sometimes Ren caught himself thinking that the Tao Ren he tried to pull off and his own self were some completely different individuals.

::

Jun was the only person that Ren could still be open with, but lately he tried to avoid it. He didn't want to admit it, but he felt uncomfortable that even one person knew what he considered his weaknesses. He knew she wouldn't tell anyone, but he still felt bad about it. He regretted so many things he'd spoken out loud.

Hao was a different story. They knew each other for quite a while, but Ren never was open with him. Then again, Hao didn't talk about feelings either; they were more colleagues than actual friends. Hao was friends with Jun though, and Ren sometimes caught himself thinking of that as a potential danger for himself to be exposed to people other than Jun.

That was something he could not let happen. Ever.

::

As always, Monday morning was a living hell to Horokeu Usui, who fell out of the bed after hearing the alarm clock - again.

"Darn it!" he grumbled, rubbing the back of his head and trying to free himself of rolled-up blanket. "Man, do I hate Mondays or what!" As a flash of the past weekend glinted in his mind, he suddenly stopped complaining and sighed. "Oh well."

_'It's still better than sitting here, not knowing when _he_ might show up. Yeah, I think I'll take school any time.'_

His normally optimistic nature was blown away, and he didn't even smile on his way to school, something that was rare, because despite of being more serious than he usually let out, he _was_ a fun-natured guy to some extent. But right now he just felt being hot-tempered and angry. Way too much like Ren for his tastes.

::

Horokeu felt relieved when he met his classmates again. He noticed that Yoh seemed spacier than usual, but when he asked what was going on, all he received was a laugh.

"Nothing really," Yoh grinned and spilled his soda on Chocolove's lunch. He seemed somewhat troubled.

Since no one else seemed know anything, Horohoro just gave up and accepted a long detailed review about the weekend's party's music, food and what people were in there, most of which he had already heard from Pirika.

"Ren was there too, by the way," Yoh announced, and Horokeu turned to him. _'Pirika didn't mention this..why? Maybe she just forgot? Or did something happen?' _Mistaking the silence for a sign of interest, Yoh added, "He looked kinda sad if you asked me. Do you think he's alright Horo?"

"Why are you asking me?" the Ainu spluttered out without thinking. Yoh could be so annoying sometimes.

"I thought maybe you knew," the Asakura smiled innocently, "that's all."

"Yeah right," Horo grumbled, "You just ruined the mood, Yoh."

"Come on, you're overreacting."

"Am not!"

"Yes you are!"

::

As the day progressed, Horokeu almost forgot the uncertainty that was hanging over his head since his father's visit. _'If you can't do anything, then don't think about it either,'_ he thought happily as he followed Lyserg to the double math class.

Few meters from the classroom, Horo suddenly stopped, nearly bumping into a dark-haired figure he already knew too well. Even from behind he could feel the radiating arrogance.

"What the...REN?! What are you doing here??"

"Hm." Ren half-turned his face to him and raised an eyebrow, obviously not obliged to answer.

Just then Mr. Lawx appeared behind them. He looked at Horo with the usual scorning gaze and adjusted his glasses before speaking. "Their teacher is absent due to health problems, so I'm filling in for him. The classroom is big enough, don't you think?"

Chocolove turned a worried look to Horohoro's face, expecting him to snap again; but the Ainu just sighed. "Oh well, I guess I can put up with this."

::

The first hour went quite well, despite the fact that the teacher was constantly asking for theory. Horokeu had the feeling that he was doing it mainly because of him; he barely managed to answer one question though he was asked every other time. The most annoying thing was, that after receiving a wrong answer from Horo, Mr. Lawx would put on a _'I thought so'_ face and ask either Lyserg or Ren, who would give the correct answer immediately.

_'That's one way to increase your self confidence,'_ Horo thought, laying his head on the desk for the tenth time as Ren's voice explained about cosines.

"Don't worry about it Horo," Chocolove said as the lesson ended and the teacher walked out of the classroom. "He's clearly picking on you. He didn't say he would ask us today."

"But that's still something you should have known," Lyserg smiled, walking up to them. Actually, it was unbelievable how good he was in everything - especially math. Horohoro sometimes thought he wasn't human.

"You're not helping him, Lyserg..."

Horo scowled. His friends' attempts to cheer him up just irritated him right now. "Just forget it okay? So I suck at math. So what?"

::

As his friends walked out of the classroom, he heard a snicker and turned around, only to see Ren Tao sitting on a desk. "What's so funny?"

"You are," Ren answered, looking greatly amused. _Again?_

"Leave me alone," Horo replied and turned to go as well.

"You addressed me," Ren reminded. "That means you're the one who started this pathetic excuse of a conversation, and it's _you_ who should leave me alone." He looked at him. _'It's not like I want to fight with you.. I want to understand something. And for that, I need to talk to you. One day..I will find out.'_

Horokeu twitched and turned back, but nothing came to mind. He just stood there and glared at the guy in front of him.

"You can scowl at me all you want," Ren noted indifferently. His tone was really annoying, and Horokeu once again felt his anger rising.

"If you think you can act all smart and great.."

"Hey, I don't act anything. You, on the other hand, try to act as if you weren't stupid and pathetic." His tone, as usually when saying similar words, was that of stating a fact, and it did look like he didn't doubt it one bit. Though maybe there was truth in it...maybe he was acting a bit too. But it didn't matter at the moment.

That was enough for Horohoro; he gritted his teeth and charged at the Tao, who was already wearing a smile of victory.

::

_'How?'_

Once again Horo's hands were caught in mid-air and pushed away, seemingly without any effort from Ren's side.

_'How does he beat me every time? It's not fair!'_

He found himself sitting on the floor. Ren was standing over him.

"Stop," the Tao said calmly, "You'll lose anyway. Why do you keep trying?"

"What do you know?" Horo tried his best to control his rising temper. Apparently, smashing wasn't the right way to success in this case. "You haven't been pushed around like dirt, were you? As long as I try, I have hope!"

"Interesting." Ren seemed to forget the blue-haired boy that was sitting in front of him for a few moments. Hope...dreams. The fragile little things that could make people so strangely stubborn. Maybe that was a strength.. However the words about being pushed around made him frown a bit; despite of being 'elite' or 'powerful', he had way too good of an idea how it felt.

Horohoro decided to use the moment and tackle Ren down; however, it turned out he was mistaken. Ren had never let down his guard; he suddenly stepped to the side with a smirk on his face, sticking out his leg to trip his opponent, and Horo bumped into the shelf that was standing behind him.

"Uh-oh," Ren said indifferently. Horo tried to stand up, holding onto the shelf, but it finally lost balance and fell over with a crashing sound, dragging the boy together and losing its contents.

Horo didn't even manage to understand what happened; he just understood that he broke something. Judging from the sound of it, a _lot_ of something. It was just his rotten luck. "Shit."

At the very moment the bell rang and the teacher walked in. He immediately noticed Horohoro, sitting on the fallen shelf with a really embarrassed look on his face, the books lying wide around and then he saw the sliver of the vase that some of his students had won years ago in the city contest and given it to him.

This was bad.

::

"Mr. Usui, here you go again," the teacher looked at Horo over his glasses. "I'll personally make sure you get detention for the rest of the year."

Horo stood up. The students were walking to their desks, eyeing him curiously. There it goes again, Horokeu Usui is in trouble.

"B-but I --"

"To the principle's office. Now."

"Wait," a low, even voice stopped Horokeu from reaching the door handle. He turned surprised and saw Ren standing up, eyes turned to the teacher. "It was me. I pushed Horohoro off his feet and he fell on the shelf."

Horokeu blinked in shock, staring at the indifferent, arrogant, all-knowing, the _perfect_ Ren Tao who was now _lieing_ at the teacher's face, _trying_ to get into trouble - even less believable, trying to get _someone else out _of trouble.

_'You gotta be kidding me.'_

Horo's thoughts were probably reflected in his face, since Mr. Lawx now eyed him suspiciously waiting for a reply. "Don't ruin it, idiot," Ren hissed as the teacher turned away from him, and Horohoro finally got a brainwave.

"Oh - yeah, but I thought.. it was _me _who _fell_ on it anyway..."

"Alright, Mr. Tao, why did you hit him?" - It seemed Mr. Lawx completely forgot Horokeu the moment he spoke.

"He bumped into me. Unintentionally." Ren was totally making it up. He was making it seem like _someone else _was completely innocent, and that it was all his fault. The universe was going to explode any moment now.

"Are you telling me you tried to start a fight?"

"That's right."

Horo stared at Ren with the widening expression of an owl. This was totally not expected.

::

The teacher said he'd think about it, but it was almost certain that Ren wouldn't even get a warning; that's how it always went. Horokeu, on the other hand, still couldn't believe that he got out of the mess this easily. He tried to turn to the side several times, hoping to catch the look of his savior and maybe realize just what the hell was going on, but Ren's eyes were always locked either on the book or on the blackboard.

Ren sat still, not sure why he just did what he had done; he stared at his book but didn't read.

_'That's just right. He often got scolded because of my doing. Fairness...no. It might be interesting. ..maybe that's what it is. I'm not afraid of being responsible for my own doing. I don't get away behind the backs of others...I'm not a coward like that. Yes...I believe I did the right thing.'_

::

After the lessons were over, Horo walked through the hallway after Ren. When he didn't see any more familiar faces, he speeded up and stopped in front of the Chinese guy, determined to talk this time. Strangely, Ren didn't seem too annoyed about being stopped on his way, and just looked at the bluenette blankly with a rather clear 'so what do you want now' expression.

Horohoro sighed. He never thought he would say this, especially not to _this_ person,but...

"Eh...Thank you."

"Hm." Ren glanced at him, only bothering to make a sound to confirm he heard what was said, and stepped to the side, trying to go around him.

Horo took a deep breath. He didn't try to block the other's way this time, but turned so that he would keep facing him. "Why did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Help me."

Ren looked at him with an almost unnoticeable triumph smile. "I had nothing better to do. Besides, if I didn't, you'd be suspended." Once again he said it like it explained everything, like it was something very natural, and that was beginning to get slightly annoying. Didn't he _ever_ explain himself for anything? And why was he acting..well, almost _friendly_ all of the sudden? Horokeu just blinked, confused.

"Oh..and _why_ would you care?"

"I don't," Ren replied. "You're amusing, Horohoro. I figured would be fun to have you around. That's all."

The Ainu felt like something heavy had just dropped on his head. This was completely non-persuasive, yet at the same time so blatantly arrogant that it could as well be true when it came to the Tao. "Fun?"

"A loud airhead like you who runs around acting tough is something funny, ne? You're a nice comparison to people who _have_ some brain."

Horokeu scowled for a brief moment, and then just sighed apathetically. Ren was still Ren, no matter what he did.

"Don't get mistaken though, I still don't like you," Ren added matter-of-factly, apparently a bit surprised by the fact that the Ainu didn't try to hit him again, and turned to go.

Horo now felt completely confused. "And I thought you wanted to be pals now," he spat out. His tone seemed somewhat sarcastic, without him really intending it to be. Really, what the hell? Just when they seem to finally get to peace, it all seems to turn around again.

Ren stopped and looked him in the eye. "I don't need a crowd of losers you people call _friends_. Remember it."

He didn't say anything else and quickly disappeared behind a corner.

::

* * *

::

**End Chapter**

::

Poor Horo is so clumsy.

Seems that Ren is intrigued by open-heartedness. This could get interesting.

So yes, Ren does have a habit of breaking things when he feels bad, no matter in what verse he appears. x)

And yes, Ren's servant is indeed a much modified version of Bason. I decided to use his Mandarin-Chinese name I found in the manga, just so that while reading, the image of a huge ghost dude with a spear wouldn't keep popping up in your mind. Except for that, he's pretty much the same. Che!


	7. Broken Ice

**AN: **Actually, I have so many ideas that I will probably be writing other fics now (and most of them one-shots...multi-chapters are damn HARD!) Nonetheless, I am not abandoning this baby, it just might become a bit...slow sometimes. I'll try to make up for it. ;)

..I dunno if you guys believe this, but I actually still haven't thought of a plot..hehe...I should read what I wrote again, maybe I'll find it. xD As for the other things, it'll all be discovered soon.

Hm hm hm...next chapter. x) As we saw in the previous one...things are moving. (dances)

::

* * *

::

**Chapter 7 : Broken Ice**

::

A turn.

A sigh.

Tao Ren layed on his back with his arms stretched to the sides, his cat-like eyes gazing at the ceiling. He was supposed to be sleeping, but he didn't want to. Once again _that_ Tao Ren - who was created by his father - had to come out the next second after he did something he decided himself. He didn't say what he had really meant to.

_'Because I didn't want you to hate me.'_

No, he wouldn't have said it anyway. But once again he knew he did what he _had_ to, not what he wanted, without even thinking about it. And that was irritating. It was annoying. It was like someone was carefully pulling strings over him, and his nature couldn't bear with it.

Father, the puppet master. Ren clenched his fists.

"You won't win!" he yelled into the darkness, but only another gust of wind responded to his voice.

::

Several days passed. Horohoro was rather happy again, despite his constant failing in math class that earned him more and more extra homework. Ren seemed to be avoiding him lately, so there weren't any more confrontations. But Horo couldn't get one little detail out of his mind: a tilt to Ren's voice when they last spoke. Something was not right; but then again, it wasn't Horo's business, so he just ignored it and continued trying to focus on more important matters.

Like the homework he was supposed to have done instead of going to the skatepark yesterday.

Now the Ainu was sitting in the school cafeteria with his books on the table, hoping to at least ease the trouble he was going to get into. "Darn," he groaned, running a hand through his hair and staring into the problem he has just written down. "What evil minds come up with this stuff anyway?"

Busy with the intense thinking, he didn't notice that Ren was sitting just a few tables away. Ren's new tactic of keeping silent in order to get unnoticed seemed to be working quite well; but sometimes it was just too hard to hold back. He had almost finished his lunch when he heard someone cursing not far away. Deciding to severely punish anyone who dared to disturb his eating, Ren turned his head to where it was coming from and froze for a second.

He could see Horohoro's back and his desperate gesture, which was rather strange since he was alone at the table. _'Tch, what a weirdo.'_ Ren thought to himself, watching the blue-hair waving his hand up and down in panic. _'Talk about exaggerating...I wonder if he'd do this knowing how retarded he looks from here.' _ Tilting his head slightly, the Chinese boy noticed the books, and quickly came to the right decision of what was happening.

The sight was getting more and more annoying. The blue-haired baka in front of him now was repeatedly hitting his exercise book with a fist, screaming "I DON'T UNDERSTAND THIS!" out loud. Ren let out a frustrated sigh and silently stood up, walking up behind the Ainu. He was slightly surprised seeing the numbers, and waited for a while, but it didn't seem that the other was going to do anything more than just stare at them.

::

"What the hell are you doing?" Ren asked finally, irritated to his bones. How long can it take to solve ten problems? As far as Ren remembered, trigonometry was the easiest part of 2nd grade. "You alone are making such a fuss that I can't even eat in peace!"

Horohoro turned his suffering face, which immediately changed into a distrusting one when he saw who was talking. "Well _excuse me_," he said in a mocking tone, "I thought you didn't want to talk to anyone, Mr. Tao Ren the Great."

"Quit the attitude, stupid," Ren replied sharply, "I'm not asking you anything. I want quiet so shut your big mouth up or I'll do it for you." He barely kept himself from spitting out a 'I see you've learned the name right', but decided that he didn't want to purposely create more bad atmosphere between them, though he wasn't sure why.

Horo snarled, glaring at him, but didn't say anything.

Ren smirked slighly. "I see we're getting less ignorant."

"Fuck you," Horo said in a tearful tone and slammed his head into the table. "HELP ME!"

"What?" Ren blinked, not quite catching the sudden change of conversation and Horohoro's unexpected change of tune, then finally snapped out of it. "Why do you think - As if I'd give you tips on - As if I'd do your - Why the hell would I --"

Horo wasn't listening. "I tried, and tried, and tried, and trietrietrietrietried, and all I get are these freaking irrational numbers that aren't supposed to be here!" he complained, obviously not even considering the fact that the other could be _not_ interested. "I don't understand what I'm doing wrong!"

Ren sighed and started turning around. This guy...was hopeless. As hopeless as someone could get, definitely not worth wasting attention on.

He stopped when he saw that Horo was still hopelessly lying on the table, not moving a bit, apparently waiting until the higher powers would make the last signs of life leave him so he wouldn't have to suffer anymore.

Well, maybe it won't hurt to...

Ren looked over the Ainu's shoulder. "The _sides_ of a triangle don't have sines, dumbass," he said. "You're supposed to find the last angle first."

Horo jolted up with a grateful expression, but the next moment scowled at him and crossed his arms. "If you're so smart, why dontcha try doing it instead of talking?" Much to his surprise, Ren did exactly that - plopped down on the next chair and pulled the exercise-book to himself.

"Since you're so hopeless," he said and took Horo's pencil.

Horokeu blinked in surprise. His former nemesis was sitting in the cafeteria next to him, doing his homework. This was more than unexpected; of course, Horo's opinion about Ren changed drastically since Monday, but this...

"Wait just a sec, are you seriously--"

"Shouldn't I?" Ren replied, not turning his head. He was writing so fast you could think he saw the answers somewhere in front of him. Horo quickly shook his head, staring at Ren.

"No, it's alright... I mean...thanks." The blue-hair looked curiously as Ren was cracking up his homework with ease. "How do you...You're so good at this!"

"It's just basic algebra, for kami's sake," Ren sniffed disapprovingly, not raising his head. Horo kept silent for a few moments then opened his mouth again.

"Hey, why are you subtracting if it says _plus_?" he pointed.

Ren felt his eye twitch. He never could have guessed _this_ sort of things had to be explained. "You're_ supposed _to change it to the opposite sign when you move it to the other side."

Horo looked at him with a thoughtful expression. "Oh. _Oooooh_. I see." He looked at him again. "Why?"

Ren stared at him in disbelief for a few moments then simply continued writing, not sparing him a word.

::

Horo kept looking at the young Chinese man, hoping for a reply, but he got no answer; so instead he started wondering what on Earth could be going through Ren's mind. Last time they spoke, Ren he said he didn't need anyone, and yet Horo caught a glimpse of _something_ in his eyes. It almost seemed like it was..._painful_ for him to say that. But if it were so, why did he say it anyway? Why didn't he tell something more like _'Fine, let's be pals'_ or something instead? And yet now, he's behaving as if it was exactly what he had said.

Horo sighed. He didn't like dwelling on things, and trying to figure something out was way too troublesome right now. He stared at Ren writing, when he suddenly noticed that the knuckles of Ren's left hand were severely bruised.

"What's that?" he asked pointing at it, as casually as if they had conversed like this for half of their lives. "Did someone beat you up or somethin'?"

Ren glanced at him, then at his hand, apparently quickly calculating his answer, and then continued writing. "Don't be ridiculous," he replied.

"That's not an answer," Horo grinned. The supposed restraint of the boy sitting next to him was asking for some kind of prank. "Or maybe you're actually a klutz like me and tripped over your feet somewhere?"

This time, Ren felt a twitch in his cheek. This guy was way too weird for him. Not to mention that this version was absolutely ridiculous - even worse than if he had guessed the truth. Maybe if he answered, this meaningless blabbering would stop. "No. A miscalculated hit." It was close enough to truth; he didn't need to explain that what he was trying to hit was in fact an inanimate object and the whole act was an actual rage fit. That wasn't very common, after all, and he had no intention of letting random people know that.

"Oh reeeeaally?" the blue-hair nearly sang out, silently chuckling at Ren's emphasized suffering expression.

"Would you just _shut up_, I'm helping you here!" he snapped.

"Oh yeah..." Horo scratched the back of his head with a grin. "Right. I kinda forgot."

If Ren had not been so self-controlled, he definitely would have slammed his head into the table after that last comment.

::

After a few more minutes, Ren was done. He stood up and pushed the exercise-book back to the Ainu. "Don't forget to re-write this, our handwriting is different. And solve these last three yourself."

Horo was about to thank him again, when he noticed that Ren's hand was still on the closed exercise-book. The Tao was staring at the cover with his eyebrow slightly raised, then crossed his arms and turned his head to the blue-hair with an unreadable expression.

Horo stared back at him. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

Ren looked at the Ainu, making him shiver from his intent gaze. "You told me your name was Horohoro, while it isn't. Why?"

Horo nearly sighed with relief after finding out what this was about. Ren just read his name on the cover and noticed it was different from what he was told. Most people asked Horo that, and he was already used to it.

Actually...apart from people who didn't know him well, the only person to call him by his real name was his father. Maybe that's why.. he didn't like the sound of it.

Then again, maybe that wasn't very nice of him, after all this cold guy had expressed friendliness towards him and he didn't even tell him his real name...well, it depended on how you looked at it. Hopefully he'd understand.

"My friends call me that," the blue-hair muttered and looked up just in time to see Ren's eyes widening for a brief moment.

"I'll repeat," the Chinese said in an even tone, as if wasn't him looking shocked a second ago, "why did you tell _this_ name to _me_?"

Thoughts raced through Horo's mind. What exactly was he thinking when he first saw Ren...when he asked him his name.. _''Cause you're not my dad...'cause I thought we might get along...'cause I sensed a sadness in you similar to mine..'_

...What?...

Horo kept looking at him, getting annoyed. _'What's with this guy? He's so emphasizing his distance from everyone, yet his talk and his actions are completely different. Is he mocking me? No, not this time. What the hell is wrong with him? Why he's so sure I must keep on hating him?'_

"And I'll repeat too," Horo answered slowly, looking the Tao in the eyes, "That's the name my friends use."

Ren looked at him in disbelief. It took him several seconds to reply; seemingly Horo had won this round. "You're stupid _and_ stubborn," the Chinese finally said, the insult clearly lacking his usual creativity, and started walking away.

Horo wasn't sure why he did what he did afterwards; maybe he just wanted to make sure, or maybe it just came to his mind that very instant.

"Hey, Ren," he called, causing the other to stop a few meters away.

"What is it?" Ren spat out, not turning around. Suddenly, he seemed a whole more annoyed than before.

"Do you get along well with your father?" Horo asked innocently and immediately regretted it. The expression on Ren's face when he suddenly turned around was frightening. He wasn't just mad; he was furious.

"None of your damn business!" he growled, staring at Horohoro as if he had said something unbelievably vulgar. "Don't you dare mention it again!"

Horo flinched backwards, but as he saw Ren turning on his heel and storming out, he felt almost amused. He just remembered that he never saw Ren lose his temper before; though judging from the looks of it, it must have been happening quite often. Does that mean that _this_ was the _real_ Ren? The guy who helped him with homework? The Ainu couldn't help but feel that, unintentionally, Ren had just let him in. And apparently, there was going to be a price to pay since he didn't like it.

"It's alright you know," Horo shouted after him. "I kinda know how ya feel, if you catch what I mean? Don't worry 'bout it that much, everyone has problems, y'know!"

Ren stopped by the door for a moment looking almost as if he would turn back to say something else, but then just walked out, not sparing Horokeu a single look.

::

_'What the fuck got into me?'_ Ren stopped by the lockers, trying to calm down. His temper has just kicked in, what haven't really happen in school before. _'What the hell was I doing? What happened? Why did I lose myself like that?'_

Something apparently was changing. This guy, who had less hope of succeeding in anything than others, yet clinging to it twice as hard. Just seeing him made Ren doubt the firmness of the prison of solitude he was locked in since he could remember. That wasn't the case anymore, the opportunities were here, he just needed to reach out and take them. He suddenly realized that he should fight harder for the will of his own, though he seemed to have known it all the time.

And yet, when all it took was to reach through the bars and take the keys, right now he could feel something making him want to back off into the darkest and furthest corner of the cell.

Once he got rid of the anger that flooded his mind at the mention of his father, he finally recognized the feeling, one that he hadn't felt for years.

He was afraid.

Scared of opening himself to ..a stranger?..

"Darn it," Ren whispered and closed his eyes.

::

"Where were you?" Chocolove asked as they walked into the classroom. "It sure was quiet in the courtyard during this break, lately Yoh is always silent and all Lyserg wants to talk about are books, it was so damn boring!"

"Sorry 'bout that", Horo replied, scratching the back his head. "I had to do some math..."

"You, math?"

They both started chuckling.

::

The math lesson seemed to be going quite well, until...

"Horokeu, come here."

Horo decided it would be best to obey, and walked to teacher's table. However on his way he remembered so many things that the teacher would have had the right to punish him for, that he barely kept his voice from trembling. "Yes sir?" The teacher glared at him over his glasses, then impatiently waved his hand in the air, gesturing towards the pile of exercise-books he had gathered at the beginning of the lesson.

"You got a "B -"? Don't take me for a fool. Who did your homework?"

The Ainu blinked. Oh SHIT. Well, there was only one way out now. To be a big fat liar, and don't doubt it. And look as innocent as possible. "I did."

"Did you?" Mr. Lawx eyed him suspiciously. "I am well aware of your knowledge, Mr. Usui. I won't let this slip through like that." He seemed to think for a moment, narrowing his eyes - he couldn't do anything without evidence - and pointed the blackboard. "If you solve _at least_ this problem, I'll take your word."

Horo gulped and walked to the board. White letters on it said, " 7x - 4 = 17 ". He took the chalk and looked at the numbers, trying to remember how Ren solved it.

"Come on," Lyserg smiled from the front desk, "this isn't even a problem! We did this stuff two years ago!" Horokeu could practically sense his beaming expression from behind his back.

"Good for you," he hissed, turning back slightly, then turned to the blackboard again.

_Change the sign.._

" 7x = 17 + 4 = 21 ". He sighed with relief as he heard no disapproving muttering, and divided. He wasn't sure if it was seven or minus seven, but some part of him that wasn't sleeping through math all these years told him that the number of x'es didn't change signs no matter where you move it.

Horo's hand trembled a bit as he wrote, " x = 3 " and turned to the teacher who looked at him with a sour expression on his face.

"That's correct," Mr. Lawx said finally, apparently disappointed he didn't get to make a scene and cancel the blue-hair's mark, and Horo nearly fainted from relief and the thought that he has just solved a problem. The teacher bit his lip lightly and added, forcing each word out: "I suppose you got lucky this time. Sit down please."

Horohoro nearly shouted "I DID IT!!", but he managed to keep it for the break.

::

It was evening when Horo finally got upstairs and headed to his room. He stopped halfway and turned back to Pirika, who was walking behind him.

"You met Ren in the party, didn't you?"

Pirika looked at him a bit surprised - what did this have to do with anything now, of all times? - but smiled a bit, deciding that there was no point in lieing about something like this. "Yeah, what about it?"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well, he kinda told me off, so I thought you would try to pick on him again if you knew," she said after a small pause and sighed. Well, that good wish just went under the train.

Horo raised an eyebrow. "Damn right. Did he offend you? I'm gonna--"

"Don't." Her tone was serious, even, and actually strict.

Horo looked at her surprised, his fingers on his headband. "What do you mean? I - I thought he was okay...he helped me with homework and all - but if anyone's ever mean to you, I'm not gonna just--"

Pirika smiled and took his hand. "He wasn't mean to me," she said. "I'm starting to change my opinion. Now that he helped you..Besides, I talked with his sister. She told me that he just doesn't like to get close to people..."

"I certainly didn't notice," Horo mumbled but calmed down.

His sister just sighed. "Don't worry about it," she said. "Good night."

She stopped in the doorway of her room once again and turned back.

"You know...maybe Ren isn't such a bad guy after all. You should give him a chance."

Horo watched her close the door, feeling confused again, then turned around and walked to his room, finally going to sleep.

::

* * *

::

**End Chapter**

::

Oh yeah...operation "start pestering Ren" is about to begin. xD And the results might be.. more than expected. : D

I hope you liked this chappy; like always, reviews are appreciated! :)


	8. Distance

**AN: **So, it took me a year and half to pick this up again. To be honest, I was about to call it a permanent hiatus, but.. Somehow I think I found the muse to continue, and of course, the feedback from you guys, yelling at me and asking to continue, definitely made it easier. Thank you everyone who reads and likes this story; I'm doing it for you and I'm happy you haven't ditched it during this all time - and for that, I shall continue this!

However, due to the time that had passed since my last update until now, my writing style consequentally changed. Maybe not too much, but it did - and also did some of my views on pairings (I ship YohAnna now; sorry for those who prefer HaoYoh - in this fic it is only going to be present as a part of Hao's Evil Scheme). Because of that, and in order to feel comfortable continuing to write this, I have re-edited and re-posted all of the previous chapters, adding some details and plot twists here and there. So if you're a fan of this story, I recommend you read those - or at least skim over it - again, because there are some things that are more clear or slightly different now. However I tried not to go too far from the original concept, and I'll also try to maintain a similar style from now on.

Also, it might be going a bit quicker now - not too quickly of course, but I don't really feel like dragging things out too much anymore. Luckily, I do remember what I wanted to do with it so... BE WARY, drugs are an important part of the storyline, so if you can't approve of that, I'd recommend you to stop reading it. I had planned the background and final even before I started the fic, and I am going to finish it THAT way. (Yeah it's a damned drugs story, kthxbai). And as I had promised you all, I WILL finish it. Some day. I will try to update on my normal updating speed from now on (what is approximately once every two months), it's definitely better than a year of uncertainty, right? Thank you for all the support this far.

So, at last, Rotten Apple returns!

::

* * *

::

**Chapter 8 : Distance**

::

If there was something Ren Tao could never forgive, it was trust.

Actually, maybe there wasn't a single thing that he _could_ forgive to anyone. But it wasn't the point. The point was, he didn't want anyone getting too close to him because he knew he would never do it in return. He never crossed the apparent line he drew for himself, and he was happy locked away inside of his heart. That was the philosophy of his family, and he followed it almost mechanically; its truths were carved into his consciousness far deeper than he could ever hope to reach. There is no need for real friends, no need for family bonds, no need for anyone. The line separated him from the outer world of emotions which were of no consequence.

And then, somebody stepped on that line.

::

Horohoro wasn't even sure how, when or why he did it. In fact, he was never too sure of anything. But as it was now, he found his new activity to be a lot of fun. Ren was just too funny to tease - ignoring, then threatening, then finally exploding. Ever since Horo accidentally found out that Ren wasn't in exactly good terms with his father, he started feeling a sympathy towards him and showed it in the only way that he knew - by sincere communicating.

Of course, the communicating was one-sided.

Every time Horohoro saw Ren alone - let it be a hallway, the cafeteria or even the bathroom - he would make sure that the other boy didn't feel lonely. He would walk to him and start talking random things, starting with questions how was it going and finishing with the weather, until Ren's eyelid would start twitching and he would escape as fast as he could.

An average meeting would often go like this:

"Morning Ren!"

"..."

"You'll never guess what I had for breakfast today!"

Twitch.

"Come on! You DO know I'm talking to you, right? RIIIIIIIIIIGHT?"

"I don't fucking care! Leave me alone, you moron!"

"Ah, now you talk! So...did you know you shouldn't pee against the wind?"

"What does that have to do with anything?!!"

And so, the word fight would continue until Ren would use any successful mean to get the fuck out of there.

::

Days passed, and soon enough Ren found himself not sure if he was annoyed by it or not. At first he was, definitely; but the more he'd encounter the Ainu, the louder a little voice in his head insisted that he actually liked it, because it was communication, and that was something he was always hiding from but had always craved - and that was annoying. He had never had a friend - not a real one - and he always told himself it's because he didn't want any; but what if it wasn't true?.. Normally he would have hated himself for such thoughts, but for some reason, right now he simply acknowledged its existence without any further explanations.

Actually, at the moment he didn't care that much about it at all; his father was supposed to come back home shortly and it was all that Ren had in his head. Father. The one he 'didn't get along with' - what an understatement. Of course, he could have used that opportunity to actually talk with the Ainu, but he didn't want to. He was Ren Tao after all, not some gutless wuss who would run around searching for a shoulder to cry onto. However, his frustration was becoming very noticeable, at least to the people close to him.

::

"Ren, is something wrong?" Jun's voice interrupted his thoughts. Ren was sitting in the back of the car, frowning, and Jun was looking back at him worriedly. They were on their way home, at least Ren was; Li always drove him home before he and Jun would continue on their usual Friday's night routine at the city's most expensive clubs.

How empty.

Ren raised his head, unphased by his sister's tone. "I wouldn't tell you even if it was, so don't bother," he replied tiredly. He pretended not to notice Li's strange glance at him through the back mirror. It _was_ actually strange for him to see the brother and sister that were usually getting along so well act this way, but he knew better than to stick his nose into the Tao family's business more than it was necessary.

Jun frowned lightly, continuing to look back at him. "It's about father, isn't it? Maybe you just misunderstand each other. I'm sure --"

"I don't want to hear this." He really didn't. Could forbidding to have dreams and trust be called a 'misunderstanding'? No, Jun couldn't be that stupid. She was clearly trying to brighten him up, but he didn't want -- nor need -- '_brightening up_'.

His sister didn't seem to be giving up that easily. "I can stay with you tonight if you want. We can talk -- "

"Don't bother."

Ren glared through the side window, feeling anger boil deep within him. There was nothing anyone - or any talk - could do to help him right now. He just wanted to be _the fuck _alone at the moment, really. And he didn't want Jun to ruin her Friday evening over something like this. It was _his_ problem. The car stopped by his house, and he climbed out almost glad the trip was over. Jun looked after him. "Are you sure?"

Ren finally glanced back at her for a while. "Yeah. ... See you."

He turned and walked towards the front door.

::

Jun watched him disappear into the house, then turned back and sighed. "He just keeps shutting everyone out more and more," she muttered. It looked like things were only getting worse, though in school it seemed to be the opposite - was father really doing this much of an impact on him?

Li looked at her a bit sadly. "Maybe he's just going through a phase," he said and the car moved. "He's a teenager with responsibilities. Besides, it's not like you can force him to let you in, Jun. It's the kind of thing you have to wait to go away." His voice was low, but soft, and Jun felt reassured by it.

"I guess you're right."

::

Ren walked into the hallway and closed the door, locking it. He looked around - and of course, the annoying red dot on the phone was flashing. He didn't even check the receiver; he slowly picked up the phone and then crashed it into the wall with such force that paint peeled off the bricks in the collission spot.

"See, dad," he muttered as small pieces of plastic and metal spread over the floor, "I can shut you up whenever I want to."

He made his way upstairs, already hating the weekend.

::

It didn't get any better when he received a call to his mobile. He was about to trash it too, but the call wasn't from his father, so in the end he decided to answer it.

_"Ren?"_ Hao's voice. _"We're going to the arcade this evening, maybe somewhere after that. Don't you want to come?"_ The screeching, annoying sound through the cellphone that was his voice annoyed Ren to no end.

"No. Did you actually_ think _I would?" The Chinese smirked as he could almost_ hear _Hao's awkward expression.

The Asakura coughed, apparently finally gathering himself enough to keep talking._ "Oh well, what a shame," _he said in a slightly amused tone. _"By the way, I tried to get through to you earlier, but I couldn't so I tried the house phone. Have you found my message?"_

What message?....oh. "Hm, must've overlooked it. Bye."

Ren ended the call and threw the cellphone onto his bed. He ran hand through his bangs, sighing and then snickering drearily.

"I'm really becoming paranoid..."

::

"See, Horo?" Yoh grinned as the ball turned and went to the side, away from the bats, for the who-knows-which time. This had to be the cheapest bowling alley in the neighborhood, but at the same time it had the cozyness and informality that otherwise you wouldn't get. "If you say you're regretting coming here, you'll be a big fat liar."

Horokeu scratched his head. He probably would have preferred to stay home, but he had to admit this was actually fun. They were playing in two teams, boys against girls - that included him, Yoh, Chocolove, Pirika, Anna and Tamao Tamamura, the shy classmate of Pirika's. Tamao would often glance at Yoh and then look away really embarrassed; Anna would glare at her from time to time, and Yoh didn't seem to notice anything, friendly to everyone as ever, and nothing more.

It was going to be a peaceful evening.

Unfortunately, after an hour had passed and the female team triumphed - for some reason, it seemed like Anna was physically strongest out of them all and any team with her on was automatically destined to win - Yoh's cellphone rang.

Yoh just stood there for a few moments, not realizing where the oh so similar melody of a Bob's song was coming from, then it clicked and he pulled out an old-model, orange and rather worn-off mobile.

"Yes?" he chirped happily, then his eyes widened a bit but he looked even happier than before. "Really? Now? -- Of course, what do you think? It's Friday! -- Yes, alright, when? -- Okay, on the corner." He hung up and hummed. "Who wants to go with me for a stroll?" he suggested a bit too cheerfully.

Everyone looked at each other a bit questioningly.

"Not in a million years," Anna stated coldly, and everyone sweatdropped. "Let's go get some soda." She turned around and walked off, her teammates and Chocolove following her towards the small shop just next to the bowling club.

Horokeu sighed. "Fine," he said and stepped towards Yoh, who looked strangely down all of the sudden. "What was that call about?"

"Oh, you'll see."

::

They walked for around ten minutes, until reaching a crossroad of the streets. There they stopped and waited, and soon a tall figure approached, followed by another one.

"Hey, Yoh," Johan greeted with a smile, and Horokeu nearly sat on the ground out of surprise. It was that blond druggie-looking guy, and next to him, strangely, there was Hao. Yoh didn't seem phased, though the surprised look on his face when the other Asakura went into the streetlamp's light clearly said he didn't quite expect that.

"Yo," he greeted simply. "How much?"

"The usual."

They both looked around, only to confirm that this neighborhood was in fact safe for this kind of deals, then Yoh took out some money, and Johan took out a small green package, and then they handed it to each other, looking very contented.

Now Horokeu understood what was happening here. Drugs. Johan must have been selling - or at least re-selling - it. He did know Yoh did weed, but seeing it like this made him scared, because he knew too much about such business, and because he didn't want to know. He wished he didn't. His hands started trembling, and he probably turned pale as everyone's concerned looks turned towards him.

"Horo, are you alright?" Yoh asked with a frown, eyeing his blue-haired friend. He didn't find it in him to talk and just nodded. "Come on, let's get back, I think you should sit down."

The Ainu agreed with that opinion. As the initial shock went past, he even grinned and reassured he was fine, taking his arm off Yoh's shoulder, but something was suddenly cold inside of him again. Johan and Hao had decided to join them because their other friends had went somewhere else, and Yoh didn't seem very happy. He was still a bit scared by what had happened back at Hao's party; he didn't really want it but he didn't find it unplausible either, plus Hao was a dear friend so he didn't want to hurt him under any circumstances. He hoped that things would work out, how he always did.

::

Eventually they reached the club where the others were, but instead of going right there, Yoh pulled Horokeu into a narrow alley.

"I gotta get a smoke," he explained, "You don't mind waiting a bit more, do you?" Horo really minded, but he didn't want to appear as a wimp therefore nodded. "Ah, great."

Johan had followed them, while Hao apparently went to meet the rest of the group. Yoh must have found it relieving, as he rolled a blunt in a record time. Horo was trying to tell himself that this wasn't anything too unusual for him and that he shouldn't react to it like this, but it didn't help too much.

"Got any fire?" he asked Johan, who had just taken out a cigarette out of his wallet. The blond nodded, and in a few more moments they were both smoking. Johan glanced at the Ainu.

"You want any?" he asked as if it was a health service. Horo shook his head quite rapidly, though he had already managed to calm himself down. This wasn't bad, not to him, this was alright. "Well, suit yourself."

There was a couple more minutes of silence; it was getting dark, but the cigarettes' ends were glittering red, still quite visible, and so was the silvery smoke surrounding them. Horo actually started to enjoy the peace of the night, when he felt something.

That smell.

Behind the aroma of Yoh's blunt which he couldn't help but describe as something 'green' and comparedly fresh despite of making him want to cough, he could sense something a little sour, what reminded him of soda a bit yet at the same time there was another, even weaker smell, which he couldn't help but recognize. He suddenly realized he couldn't inhale it, but instead he simply panicked. It was only his imagination, but he thought he was seeing black circles in front of his eyes, and when he snapped out of it, he was on the ground, and the two others were trying to pull him up.

"Gosh, Horo, are you really okay?" Horo got up, staggering a bit, and stepped to the side. He saw Yoh and nodded weakly at him.

"Yes... I should really go though." That was half-true, though right now he really, honestly wanted to get away from the guy who was doing heroin. It was making him remember too much of things that had connections with his dad, and he felt sick. Really sick. He wanted to go home and lay down.

"Er..if you're sure.." They helped him back into the club, and he immediately heard a loud gasp of shock before a pair of warm arms encircled him.

"Brother!" Pirika cried, letting go of him and shaking him before looking at his face, "What happened to you?"

Horo shook his head a bit; his mind had cleared once again and now he actually felt stupid for casting up such a fuss. Not to mention that now he was definitely not avoiding questions - shit. "I just don't feel very well," he said, frowning a bit, "I must have ate something."

"Let's go home," Pirika stated, getting up from him, apparently now once again turning from caring into strict.

"No, really, I'm not getting into the bus, I want to walk." He really wanted to be alone, but he wasn't going to let his sister wander around alone at this hour. "Listen, you don't have to go yet, maybe someone --"

"I could walk you home, Pirika," Chocolove suggested.

Pirika scoffed. "I'm not letting you off alone, Horo," she insisted, but suddenly silenced as she saw his look. He actually _glared_ up at her from under his headband, and it was almost scary, as for a moment he reminded her of Dad. She grabbed his ear and pulled at it, and the scary expression was gone.

"Ow," the blue-hair whined instead, "Really, Pirika, it's fine, I want to have a walk, Choco will take you home, now please let go."

When she finally did, he got up, abruptly said byes and walked out into the intensifying dark.

::

Even though the mood had died down a bit, the rest of the company stayed for a while longer. Hao was trying to be the soul of the company; Yoh looked more and more troubled until finally he got a look of determination on his face. Maybe the weed helped him to make the decision, or maybe it was just the right time; he got up and walked into the lobby.

He met Anna on her way out of the bathroom, and stopped in front of her.

"You're blocking my way," she said, narrowing her eyes slightly, and Yoh felt shivers run down his spine. Now or never. He gulped.

"SorryIjustreallyneedtoknow!" he spluttered, nearly turning red at such a pathetic display, and took a breath before speaking again. "Anna, would you, like, ever.. date me?"

The answer was a slap - what else have he expected? - and the girl he thought was cute stomped past him back to the company. Yoh stood there, holding his cheek, feeling his eyes tear up from both the pain and what he figured was rejection. Life just wasn't fair.

He didn't even react when someone pulled him into a hug; he found it strangely comforting and didn't even resist. He did need this right now.

"Haven't I told you?" Hao's voice spoke softly, and his fingers lightly patted Yoh's back. "No one else can ever understand us. Now you see it too."

At the moment, Yoh couldn't help but think it was true.

::

As Horokeu walked down the streets towards his home, he passed a house with the lights still on. That wasn't that very unusual, but he found it intriguing; as he looked up, in one of the windows he saw a figure. It looked strangely familiar and he stopped and looked at it for quite a while before realizing whom it was resembling.

Ren didn't know why he walked through the window, nor why he looked through it. In the darkening street, he noticed a lone figure that stopped right by his house, and for a moment he thought it was the blue-haired menace, Horohoro. The figure didn't move and neither did he. Moments passed; there was silence and the light and dark were staring at each other; finally he turned around seeing the figure in the street do the same, and turned the lights off. The figure started walking off, and Ren did the same, neither seeing one another anymore. The Chinese went upstairs and layed back on his bed, staring at the dark ceiling, not feeling sleepy at all.

Horo walked the empty streets, suddenly feeling like he needed another walk; he took another turn and walked past the park, seeing some random chronies that were probably doping in the distance, then walked down another street, and only then headed home.

When he finally got there, Pirika was already asleep.

::

* * *

::

**End Chapter**

::


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